How Do You Prove Damages in a Wrongful Death Case?

If someone dies in an accident, the relatives and family of the deceased are understandably crushed. But even though that’s obvious to anybody who has family that they love, it isn’t assumed in wrongful death cases. Even in a wrongful death case, the family and next of kin, still have to show to a jury how the loss of the family member has affected them emotionally.

Emotional Loss: The Real Damages

Loss of the love, companionship, mentorship, togetherness, and all of the other things that come with the family that we love, are the real damages in wrongful death cases. Yes, you can recover for financial losses, such as the loss of financial support, but most of us, and a jury, understands that the real injury to the family isn’t always financial—it’s the loss of just having the person that we love at our side whether that’s a spouse, child, or parent.

Despite how obvious this is, there is no way to quantify the value of this loss. In other words, there is no bill, no ledger, no document that a jury can look at and add up and figure out how much to award.

Testimony of Family

It should come as no surprise that the family and next of kin for the deceased, provides the most powerful testimony in wrongful death cases. And yet, this can be the most difficult testimony to provide, because in doing so, the family must relive the loss.

The family must tell the jury what the deceased provided to them, what they did together, how much the deceased was loved, the things that the survivors did with the deceased—all things that many of us don’t necessarily want to forget, but it surely is not easy to relive it, and to keep those wounds open.

The “problem,” legally, is that (most) everybody loves their children, parents, spouse, or other family members. That means that saying how much you loved the deceased, just isn’t enough to convey the pain that survivors are feeling because of the death of the loved one.

Loved ones must be ready to explain in detail what they did with the deceased, and the support, companionship and services the deceased provided. It is simply not enough to say the survivors, for example, loved the deceased. Rather, specificity is needed.

Survivors may need to tell stories of time spent with the deceased, retell stories about the deceased, and convey memories of love, support and companionship provided by the deceased.

Videos of the time spent together, trips, birthdays, or other life activities can be used. Even cards or emails can be used and shown to the jury to convey how close the family was.

While all of this can be tough for surviving family, many family members actually find it cathartic. Many do find their testimony to be their chance to tell the world how much they are hurting, and how much their loved one meant to them.

And of course, your injury attorney will be there with you the whole way, to guide you through this difficult time. Let us help you with your wrongful death case. Schedule a consultation with our Tampa personal injury lawyers at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian today.

Source:

plaintiffmagazine.com/recent-issues/item/getting-to-the-heart-of-non-economic-damages-in-wrongful-death-cases