Little Rock Wrongful Death Lawyer
Discuss Your Case With a Little Rock Wrongful Death Lawyer If You or Your Family is Considering Filing an Arkansas Wrongful Death Lawsuit
- Motivations for Filing an Arkansas Wrongful Death Lawsuit
- Compensation Your Family can Pursue
- Limits Placed on the Amount of Recoverable Compensation
- Pitfalls you Might Face in Trying to Secure Compensation
When a loved one has been lost in a tragic accident due to someone else’s negligence, the surviving loved ones have lost someone they love only to gain a bevy of questions.
How was your loved one injured? Who is to blame for your loved one’s death? Does your family have the right to seek compensation by filing a wrongful death lawsuit? Do you need to hire a Little Rock wrongful death lawyer? Michael Grossman and the legal specialists at Grossman Law Offices have spent the past 20 years assisting bereaved loved ones in overcoming the tragic loss of their loved ones in fatal accidents. We’ve become familiar with the catastrophe your family is trying to figure out how to live with, and we want to help find answers to the many questions about which you are currently wondering. We want to help you understand the legal principles involved in a wrongful death lawsuit and the options available to you, so you can secure the compensation you deserve without falling prey to the obstacles that can normally bar recovery for many plaintiffs who try to represent them.
Naming a Personal Representative of the Estate
Before moving forward, you need to know that Arkansas requires the family of the victim in a wrongful death lawsuit to name a personal representative of the estate before a the suit can be filed. This personal representative then seeks compensation for the losses of all of the eligible family members by filing a single comprehensive wrongful death claim. The purpose of this requirement for a personal representative is to reduce the impact of wrongful death litigation on the courts of Arkansas, and it certainly exceeds in that end. Unfortunately for plaintiffs, this unusual requirement also makes the compensation process extraordinarily complicated for the personal representative. In order to succeed with a wrongful death lawsuit in Arkansas, the personal representative of the estate needs to have familiarity with wrongful death litigation; thus, virtually guaranteeing that the families of wrongful death victims in must hire a Little Rock wrongful death lawyer to serve as the personal representative in order to see success with a wrongful death lawsuit.
Motivations for Filing an Arkansas Wrongful Death Lawsuit
There are three main reasons to file an Arkansas wrongful death lawsuit:
- If someone’s negligence has led to another person’s death, a wrongful death lawsuit can hold the negligent party responsible for his or her actions.
- Using financial incentive to compel the negligent party to change his or her ways preventing other innocent people from perishing in the same manner.
- To allow the family of the deceased to obtain monetary relief from the financial losses suffered as a result of the untimely death of their family member.
Unfortunately, our attorneys cannot revive your loved one – no one can. We realize that no sum of money can effectively compensate you for the loss you have suffered. However, we also that your loved one’s tragic death has invariably severely hampered your family financially – especially if the deceased was the primary breadwinner for your family. Our lawyers take our responsibility as agents of the court seriously, so we’re devoted to reducing the amount of fatal accidents by bringing justice to the negligent parties who caused the death of your loved one. However, our main focus is the critical importance of helping your family recover financially from your setbacks. While we can’t heal your emotional suffering, we can help you bounce back from the financial losses you have sustained, permitting your family members to recover emotionally from the catastrophic loss you have suffered.
Compensation Your Family can Pursue in an Arkansas Wrongful Death Lawsuit
As we’ve already discussed, Arkansas law requires the personal representative of the estate to file a comprehensive lawsuit on behalf of all of the eligible family members who have suffered financially and emotionally from the death of the victim. Once the case has been resolved either by settlement or in court, the family members divide the settlement or verdict according to their relative amount of suffering. In many other states, each member of the family can file individual lawsuits against the negligent entity that caused the victim’s death. Certain family members are eligible to seek two types of damages for the wrongful death of a loved one: wrongful death damages and survival damages.
Wrongful Death Damages
Wrongful death damages supply compensation to the surviving loved ones for any monetary losses or emotional suffering they have incurred due to the catastrophic loss of their loved one. In Arkansas, these damages are limited to spouses, children, parents and siblings, and examples of wrongful death damages are:
- Medical expenses the plaintiff incurred before he or she died
- Funeral bills paid by the family
- Loss of the financial support the victim provided prior to death
- The family’s mental and emotional distress as a result of losing their loved one
- Loss of the unique familial love and comfort supplied by the victim
Survival Damages
With survival damages, only the closest living relative of the victim can seek compensation for the value of the damages the deceased could have pursued had he or she survived the accident and only been injured. The closest living relative effectively serves as a substitute for the victim by seeking survival damages, filing a claim to receive the compensation that the victim is unable to secure for him or herself. The right to pursue survival damages is inherited from spouse, to children, to parents, to siblings. In addition, the family member who seeks survival damages may also be included in the wrongful death claim, as well. Examples of survival damages can include:
- Medical bills paid by the victim before he or she passed away.
- Any property damage incurred by the deceased.
- The victim’s lost salary during time he or she missed work while in the hospital or recuperating from his or her injuries had he or she survived the accident.
- Diminished future earning capacity as a result of long-term disabilities caused by the accident.
- Physical pain and suffering the victim felt during the accident.
- The victim’s mental and emotional trauma as a result of both the accident and the rehabilitation process.
- Compensation for disfigurement.
Different strategies must be devised to seek wrongful death damages and survival damages, and the process of accounting for the losses of suffered by each family member is an extremely complex process for the personal representative of the estate. Success calls for the skills of an experienced Little Rock wrongful death lawyer. Wrongful death and survival damages claims are highly complex before even considering the curveballs the defense lawyers will throw at the plaintiffs. Without significant legal experience, plaintiffs simply lack the knowledge and skills to serve effectively serve as the personal representative of the estate. For two decades, our attorneys have been resolving wrongful death cases, and we’ve never even heard about a grieving family member who has served as the personal representative of the estate for their loved one and managed to obtain the maximum compensation to which their family was entitled. Most lose their right to compensation completely due to some obscure loophole or overlooked procedure or agree to an inequitable low-ball settlement.
You’re too smart and have suffered too much to allow that to happen to your wrongful death claim. Little Rock wrongful death lawyer Michael Grossman and his team of legal professionals at Grossman Law Offices know how to protect you from any little-known loopholes or obscure procedural challenges presented by the defense and secure the compensation your family deserves. Make sure some good comes out of your loved one’s tragic death, by making the defendant pay and ensuring that his or her negligent ways change, so similar accidents don’t rob other people of their loved ones.
How do you Know if Your Family has the Legitimate Right to Seek Wrongful Death in a Civil Suit?
People without any legal experience are often unable to comprehend many wrongful death cases, and non-lawyers can often have trouble determining if they have the right to seek compensation. Contrary to popular belief, plaintiffs don’t need criminal charges filed against the defendant to file a wrongful death civil suit. For example, a reckless driver races home from work well above the speed limit, and she doesn’t see a young boy in a crosswalk, striking him without slowing down and killing him on the spot. While the driver will likely avoid criminal charges because she killed the boy accidentally, the child’s family may still file a civil suit against the motorist who drove the car with a negligent disregard for the safety of others.
As a matter of fact, civil suits can be filed if the defendant faces criminal charges, regardless of whether or not he or she is found guilt in the criminal case. If woman in the previous anecdote was under the influence of illegal drugs at the time of the accident, then motorist would likely face manslaughter charges. If the defendant is convicted or exonerated, the family of the girl can file a civil suit. Most famously, the family of Ron Goldman won a civil suit against O.J. Simpson after he was acquitted of murdering their son.
To file a wrongful death lawsuit successfully, Arkansas law requires that plaintiffs meet four conditions:
- The actions or inaction of the defendant resulted in whole or in part in the accident that killed the victim.
- The defendant was acting negligently in some way at the time of the fatal incident.
- Eligible surviving family members wish to seek wrongful death damages or survival damages.
- The victim’s death has caused the family of the deceased to incur some sort of financial losses.
Limits Placed on the Amount of Recoverable Compensation and Higher Standards of Proof That Must Occasionally Be Met in Certain Situations
Certain situations limit the abilities of plaintiffs to recover the compensation they deserve, and other conditions place much higher standards of proof for plaintiffs to meet. In medical malpractice cases, most states place lofty standards of proof and caps on the amount of damages that can be recovered in wrongful death cases. As a result, plaintiffs can often not recover the compensation they deserve for the losses they’ve suffered, and many lawyers refuse to accept medical malpractice suits for this reason.
Workers’ compensation insurance laws also limit the amount of compensation the families of wrongful death victims can recover. Workers’ compensation laws were established to safeguard employers against excessive litigation – not to help injured or killed workers, and Arkansas requires that all employers provide workers’ compensation insurance. Just as with medical malpractice, the amount of available compensation with a workers comp claim is usually significantly less than the financial and emotional pain and suffering suffered by the grieving family. Our well-seasoned lawyers know how to identify negligent third parties who negligently contributed to the cause of the victim’s death when workers’ comp coverage or medical malpractice laws limit recovery of compensation. Due to our extensive experience, we know how to offset the limits of these types of claims by seeking compensation from these third parties. Moreover, if the victim’s employer neglected to follow the law and opted not to purchase workers’ comp insurance, then we will file a wrongful death lawsuit against them. If the employer committed gross negligence that caused the victim’s death, then the family can still file a wrongful death lawsuit; even if, the employer bought workers’ comp coverage. Much like with medical malpractice litigation, gross negligence requires a higher standard of proof to be met.
By now, you are likely beginning grasp the fact that wrongful death cases can be much more complex than they appear at first glance, and we haven’t even begun to discuss the complications created by defense lawyers. Since wrongful death claims in Arkansas are so convoluted, you need a well-seasoned and highly skilled Little Rock wrongful death lawyer to serve as the personal representative of your loved one’s estate. While the law allows non-lawyers to file their own lawsuits, to do so is extremely ill advised. People who represent themselves do not get what they deserve. You need the assistance of the skilled and experienced wrongful death attorney to bring justice for the death of your family member. The time-tested Little Rock wrongful death lawyers at Grossman Law Offices can put our two decades of knowledge and experience to work protecting your right to compensation for the loss of your loved one.
Pitfalls you Might Face in Trying to Secure Compensation
In order to win a wrongful death claim, the personal representative of the estate must be able to go toe-to-toe with pushy insurance adjusters and crafty and experienced defense attorneys. Since the amount of money at stake in a wrongful death claim soars when there are several family members seeking damages, so the insurance company will go to great extent to deny the policy. After all, insurance companies are in business to make money and not help injured people. A principle in Arkansas law known as bar to recovery, disables the families of wrongfully killed victims to recover compensation if the deceased was more than 50 percent responsible for the fatal accident. In an effort to save themselves money by denying your family’s claim, both defendants and insurance companies will drag your deceased loved one’s good name through the mud, suggesting that he or she negligently caused his or her own death. Calculating defense attorneys will employ accident re-creation experts to indicate the victim caused his or her own death. The Insurance company’s most aggressive and experienced adjusters will be assigned to handle negotiations in wrongful death lawsuits. The insurance company also keeps defense specialists on staff to race to the scene of an accident as soon as it has happened and conduct an investigation to sway the jury into believing in the victim’s negligence. Without your own representative on the scene, how can you know whether this investigation is be conducting ethically. In most cases, the defense attorneys have complete their investigation before the plaintiffs have named a personal representative of the estate or hired legal representation.
The defense lawyers know that the case-turning evidence any accident can disappear soon after the accident has happened, especially when the fatality took place on a busy roadway or construction site. Videos get erased, witnesses vanish or forget what they saw, documents get destroyed, and the accident scene begins to physically change. You must find a Little Rock wrongful death lawyer and allow him or her to begin investigating before the trail of evidence has gone cold. As soon as we’re hired our attorneys begin a timely and diligent investigation. Our investigators explore every venue in searching for the necessary evidence that will prove our clients’ cases without charging any out-of-pocket expense to out clients. We find and question any eyewitnesses, scour over police reports, sequester and examine all vehicles or equipment involved in the accident, and locate any video or photographic documentation. After litigating hundreds of cases in the past 20 years, we’ve learned the critical importance a thorough investigation to turn wrongful death accident cases in the favor of our clients.
Little Rock Wrongful Death Lawyer Michael Grossman and Grossman Law Offices are Here to Protect Your Rights
For two decades, the lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have helped secured compensation for grieving families while at the same time bringing justice for the loss of their loved ones. We know how impossible it may seem to find a way to survive the loss of your beloved family member, and we want to help you cope by taking over the legal process. Our Little Rock wrongful death lawyer take over every aspect of your case, allowing your family to focus on recovering emotionally from the tremendous loss you have suffered. We have won many millions of dollars for our clients by successfully resolving hundreds of cases. We’ve questioned thousands of witnesses, investigated countless accident scenes, and faced off with every major insurance company in the country – both at the negotiating table and trial. The insurance companies and defense lawyers are intimately familiar with our long track record of success and often offer our clients equitable and adequate settlements to avoid facing our attorneys in a court of law. This allows our clients to get back to trying to reconstruct their lives with as little additional stress and difficulty as possible. You have already suffered enough. If the insurance companies or defense won’t settle; on the other hand, we will take them to court and get your family the compensation they deserve. If you still have questions you want answered or legal concepts you’d like explained in greater detail, call for a free consultation at 1-855-419-0000 (toll-free). We’d love to field your inquiries and tell you how we can help you like we’ve helped so many others.
Facility sued for negligent contribution to the death of an innocent bystander. A fatal shooting occurred on the property after the facility failed to appropriately respond to outbursts of violence & gang activity. Following the young man's death, his parents hired our firm to pursue the facility for their negligent actions including failure to provide adequate security. The case was successfully resolved through litigation.
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The family of a deceased woman hired our firm following a fatal 18-wheeler accident. The fatal accident occurred as the driver of an 18-wheeler lost control of his vehicle and veered out of his lane, resulting in a massive collision. The decedent, a passenger in a vehicle, died on the scene.
Her adult children consulted our firm to initially investigate the accident and make sense of the facts and circumstances since the family felt that the police report did not make it clear enough precisely what occurred. We launched a full investigation an immediately deposed the investigating officers.
Upon the completion of our investigation, it was apparent that the trucking company was indeed negligent and a lawsuit was soon filed. The defendant's launched an aggressive defense whereby they initially claimed that the truck driver was overcome by his passenger who allegedly grabbed the steering wheel and deliberately drove the truck off the road, despite the truck driver's best efforts.
We refuted this claim by illustrating that the tire marks that were present clearly show the truck gradually moving across the road and eventually onto the grass, which is entirely inconsistent with an abrupt lane change caused by someone taking control of the wheel. It was quite an unusual defense strategy that we were frankly surprised to even find ourselves having to refute.
The defendants then argued that a tire blowout may have contributed to the accident, which is significant because it would enable the defendant to offset some portion of their liability to a tire manufacturer or installer. Through deposition testimony of the investigating officer we established that there was absolutely no indication at the scene of the accident that a tire had blown out.
Finally, the defendants argued that the company which loaded the trailer may have improperly loaded the cargo. This argument was most plausible considering that the precise cause of the decedent's death was that she was essentially pummeled by cargo that broke through trailer and struck her person.
Our firm consulted several experts in the fields of heavy cargo transportation and physics. Our experts felt that the cargo was secured in a manner that is perfectly consistent with industry standards and that due to the forces involved, the cargo would not have behaved any differently irrespective of how it was secured. In short, the collision caused the cargo to break free and the negligence lay squarely on the trucking company and not any other entity. The case was successfully resolved through litigation.
$2,000,000.00
$775,000.00
$25,000.00
(policy limits) A young mother was killed in an accident involving two commercial vehicles, one an 18-wheeler. The accident occurred as the young woman was a passenger in a vehicle that was traveling down a highway in the early morning hours. Without warning, the vehicle in which she was a passenger collided with a stalled 18-wheeler that parked in the right of way, resulting in catastrophic injuries that claimed the young woman's life soon thereafter.
The authorities initially faulted the driver of the vehicle in which the victim was a passenger, stating that he was using an electronic device rather than paying full attention to the roadway. However, the 18-wheeler was indeed blocking the roadway and plaintiff alleged that the vehicle did not follow the requirements of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act in regard to providing adequate reflective or laminated warning at specific intervals. Further, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendant failed to remove his vehicle from the roadway when he first noticed signs of mechanical failure.
Had he simply moved to the shoulder of the road, plaintiffs argued, his lack of adequate warning signs would have been inconsequential. An initial settlement has been obtained in this case, yet litigation has commenced in full against the remaining defendant, and is currently ongoing.
$250,000.00
$78,000.00
$370.00
(policy limits) Our firm was hired by the wife and children of a retired Army Colonel who was killed in an underide 18-wheeler accident. In addition to being a decorated veteran, the decedent worked both professionally and on a voluntary basis to establish numerous learning institutions and vocational programs for at risk youths. The accident occurred as the decedent was traveling on a rural highway when an 18-wheeler failed to yield the right of way and made a rolling stop through a stop sign.
This placed the trailer of the 18-wheeler in a position whereby it blocked the entire roadway and shoulder, leaving the decedent no option but to collide with the trailer. Witnesses on the scene attempted to revive him but to no avail. Furthermore, while two female eye witnesses struggled to pry open the decedent's door to provide emergency care, the truck driver stayed in his truck and offered no assistance. Despite what appeared to be an incredibly apparent case of negligence on behalf of the defendant, defense counsel refused to accept liability resulting in rather lengthy litigation.
The defendants initially denied the claim based on the allegation that the decedent was speeding and the truck driver therefore could not adequately gauge the amount of time he had to pause at the stop sign. The physical evidence contradicted this notion entirely, notwithstanding the fact that even if the decedent had been contributorily negligent, that would not have outweighed the severe degree of negligence on the part of the defendant. Nevertheless, our attorneys were able to conclusively refute this argument based on eye-witness testimony and the testimony from police investigators who calculated the decedent's speed to be precisely at the posted speed limit. In a desperate and largely unprecedented move, the defendants then designated the state as a responsible third party.
Generally speaking, a defendant will often threaten to designate a third party in order to leverage their position but it is rare that such an arbitrary and arguably frivolous designation is actually carried out. However, that is precisely what occurred and the state was thusly incorporated into the lawsuit by the defendants. The basis of the defendant's argument was that the state erected a large street sign that obstructed the truck driver's view of approaching traffic.
Several months of intense litigation were required to before the defendant finally acquiesced in regard to this argument. The argument was finally abandoned by the defendants when in the first mediation our attorneys presented video footage shot (in a controlled setting) from the perspective of an 18-wheeler driver which showed that the sign simply did not obstruct enough of the roadway in order to be a hazard. The case was ultimately resolved through litigation.
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(policy limits) Recovery for wrongful death/ nursing home negligence which resulted in bed sores which became infected.
$100,000.00
$33,133.00
$400.00
Recovery for family of victim who died after receiving the wrong medication.
$625,000.00
$206,250.00
$5,000.00
A young woman lost her life after a bar over served her to more than three times the legal limit resulting in her burning to death in a single-vehicle accident. Witnesses stated that she was so intoxicated that she could barely make it to her vehicle without assistance. Through litigation, our attorneys ascertained the necessary evidence to prove that the establishment provided alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person, thus resulting in her ultimate demise.
$550,000.00
$220,000.00
$25,000.00
Our attorneys were hired to represent the family of a middle aged woman who was killed in a car accident. The incident occurred as another vehicle struck the car that the decedent was a passenger in, head-on on the passenger side. The impact resulted in catastrophic injuries which claimed the life of the decedent.
Our attorneys were hired soon after the accident and we launched a full investigation. Through the course of our investigation, it was soon determined that the head-on collision was caused a failed component in the defendant's vehicle (the particulars of which cannot be elaborated upon per the resolution agreement). Suit was filed against the manufacturer of said component and litigation commenced. The case was successfully resolved through litigation.
$3,200,000.00
$1,280,000.00
$50,000.00
(policy limits) A father of two was killed on the job when he fell from a personnel platform atop an elevated piece of machinery. The defendant was initially afforded protection from a liability suit by virtue of their workers' comp policy. Upon thorough investigation, it became evident that gross negligence was at the root of the accident, and suit was filed accordingly. A successful outcome was obtained through litigation.
$550,000.00
$220,000.00
$40,000.00
Our attorneys were hired to investigate a fatal motor vehicle accident involving an 18-wheeler that claimed the lives of several men, the family of one in particular which our firm represented, felt that the official version of events as outlined in the police report was not an accurate portrayal of the facts and circumstances of the collision.
Our firm launched an investigation, the findings of which served as the basis for a subsequent lawsuit. We were able to determine that the defendant's accusations of contributory negligence on behalf of he driver of the vehicle did appear to be valid and plaintiffs conceded as much. However, the plaintiffs were adamant that the contributory negligence did not entirely overshadow the negligence on behalf of the defendant truck driver.
Through physical evidence and an admission of liability that our attorneys were able to importune from the defendant under oath, we were able to show that the defendant had indeed pulled into the path of the decedent's vehicle, which was of consequence irrespective of the decedent's own contributory negligence, and that icontact.com
$250,000.00
$82,500.00
$10,000.00