If a loved one passes away unexpectedly in an accident, their loss can have financial and emotional implications. Seeking compensation for a loved one’s death may not be the first thing on many people’s minds—however, you could recover wrongful death damages under Louisiana law. While your family grieves, Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers could handle the legal process.
Our firm can assign a Jennings wrongful death lawyer to your case. From there, our team would prepare a claim for damages and advocate for your family’s financial recovery.
What Qualifies as Wrongful Death?
Many incidents could lead to a wrongful death case. For example, fatalities in Louisiana often occur in:
- Car crashes: These can involve other drivers, pedestrians, motorcyclists, or bicyclists.
- Truck collisions: Commercial vehicles can cause catastrophic injuries due to their added size, weight, and potentially hazardous cargo.
- Boating accidents: As a popular activity around the state, boating collisions are common in Louisiana.
- Workplace accidents: Hazardous work conditions can cause fatalities, particularly in the construction industry.
- Medical malpractice incidents: Doctors and medical facilities can be held accountable for negligence.
- Defective drugs: Defects can make certain prescriptions dangerous for consumers.
Our team at Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers represents clients in these and similar cases involving untimely death. We encourage you to reach out if you lost a loved one to discuss seeking wrongful death damages.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in Louisiana?
A wrongful death case allows you to take legal action against the party responsible for your loved one’s death in Jennings. While no amount of money can replace a loved one, seeking compensation can provide support for your family.
However, only certain family members can file a wrongful death action. Per CC Art. 2315.2, this includes:
- The surviving spouse and/or child(ren)
- The surviving parents
- The surviving siblings
- The surviving grandparents
A surviving child can only file a wrongful death claim if there is no surviving spouse to make a claim. Similar rules apply to the rest of the list. Our wrongful death team can let you know who in your family can initiate the claim.
How Long You Have to File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit
A statute of limitations limits the time you have to seek compensation through a lawsuit. Typically, the statute of limitations for a wrongful death suit in Louisiana is one year. You generally must file within that timeframe, or the courts could dismiss the case without hearing any of your claims or evidence.
Another benefit of our firm is that we will identify the deadline in your case and keep track of it so you don’t have to. Once you hire us, we’ll use the time available to build a compelling case and file before this window closes. Meeting this deadline is crucial to the success of your case.
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Seeking Wrongful Death Damages in Jennings
A wrongful death lawyer on our team can help you identify, calculate, and seek various damages in a wrongful death case. These damages fall into two categories: economic and non-economic.
Economic Compensation
When you lose a loved one unexpectedly, it may leave you with outstanding bills and additional expenses. Some common examples of economic damages are:
- Loss of household income
- Medical costs
- Funeral and burial expenses
Calculating and proving economic damages involves receipts, invoices, bills, paystubs, and other financial documents. Our team can compile and analyze these for you.
Non-Economic Compensation
Losing a loved one is not easy to process or adjust to. Louisiana law allows you to account for this through non-economic damages, which typically include:
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of parental guidance
Non-economic damages are often harder to calculate since they don’t have their own obvious monetary value. Our attorneys understand how to assign value to them so we can seek fair compensation.
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How a Wrongful Death Attorney in Jennings Can Help
Our comprehensive services at Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers include, but are not limited to:
Collecting Evidence
An attorney from our firm can help you collect evidence to identify and build a compelling case against the liable party. Examples include:
- Eyewitness statements
- Official accident and death records
- Medical records
- Video footage or photographs
Other evidence may also be available. We aim to uncover any information to support your claim during our in-depth investigation.
Establishing Liability
We must prove another party’s role in your loved one’s death to secure compensation. This process involves building a case that establishes:
- Duty of care: This refers to a legal duty to avoid causing harm to others by acting a certain way, such as following traffic laws.
- Failure to adhere to duty of care: Once we establish duty of care, we must show how the other party did not make reasonable efforts to protect the victim from harm.
- Causation: There must be a direct link between the other party’s actions and your loved one’s fatal injuries.
The evidence we collect while investigating should help us establish each of these elements in the case.
Representing You During Negotiations or at Trial
After the death of your loved one, insurance companies or the defendant’s legal representation may come to you with offers to settle the case. However, you might not know whether a settlement offer properly addresses your damages.
Our team can handle any communications from other involved parties, which includes negotiating any settlement offers. You have the final say on any offer—if you agree, the case closes and you receive this settlement. If not, we can continue negotiating or recommend going to trial.
Get The HelpYou Need(337) 777-7777To Schedule a FREE CONSULTATION
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Receive a Free Review of Your Wrongful Death Case Today
A wrongful death lawyer with Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers can fight for justice and compensation after your family’s unexpected loss. We serve clients in Jennings, the surrounding areas of Jefferson Davis Parish, and throughout Louisiana. Call to get the process started with a free consultation from our team: (337) 777-7777.
Get The HelpYou Need(337) 777-7777To Schedule a FREE CONSULTATION
24 hours a day • 7 days a week
