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Wrongful Death Attorneys
Wrongful Death Attorneys
When you lose a loved one to an untimely death, you must adjust to life-altering changes, while dealing with overwhelming grief. If your spouse is the victim, you must meet your family’s need for guidance, companionship, and emotional support. You find ways to fulfill previously shared responsibilities, often with fewer financial resources. If someone’s caused your loved one’s death, our wrongful death attorneys can determine if a negligent party owes you compensation, while you and your family take the time you need to heal.
Washington’s Survival of Action codes establish a formal litigation process so grieving families can recover compensation. While no settlement or judgment can replace your loved one, a wrongful death lawsuit can provide essential financial resources. When you’re struggling with grief and emotional turmoil, it seems reasonable to postpone legal action. To protect your family’s legal rights, you must take immediate steps to comply with court-mandated guidelines and time constraints.
Why Choose The Bonin Law Team?
When someone fatally injures your loved one, litigation often becomes a hybrid case that encompasses multiple legal obligations. Your lawyer must take steps to establish the family’s right to recover damages. They must also prove that a negligent party caused their loved one’s death.
Our wrongful death attorneys have resolved cases for families in Mason County, Thurston County, Grays Harbor County, Island County, Skagit County, and Anacortes. We have protected our clients’ legal rights while maintaining compliance with statutory and procedural requirements. We begin by preparing our case.
Review the decedent’s will and other relevant documents that determine our clients’ right to recover survival benefits
Wrongful Death Cases In Washington
A wrongful death occurs when a person, business, entity, or organization causes or contributes to another person’s death. This often happens when their negligent and intentional act causes a car accident, premises incident, on-the-job trauma, and other types of accidental events.
The Revised Code Of Washington, Chapter 4.20 RCW, Survival of Actions
explains the circumstances under which parties may file a wrongful death lawsuit. It also describes who may be a beneficiary of any recovered damages.
- A decedent’s personal representative may file a wrongful death action “for the benefit” of the beneficiaries. The lawsuit may seek economic and non-economic damages sustained by a decedent and their beneficiaries.
- RCW 4.20.020, Wrongful Death—Beneficiaries of Actions, describes beneficiaries as the decedent’s spouse, state-registered domestic partner, child or children, and stepchildren. If no one fits within these designations, the decedent’s parents or siblings become the beneficiaries of any recovered damages.
- If an injured victim has a right to recover damages from a negligent party that caused or contributed to their death. Survivors retain this recovery right after the victim’s death.
- The personal representative has the right to recover damages as a result of a contractual obligation or negligence unrelated to the event the caused their death.
A wrongful death lawsuit gives the decedent’s confirmed personal representative the means for recovering damages for beneficiaries. As your legal representative, our wrongful death attorney must still present evidence that proves a defendant caused or contributed to the decedent’s fatal accident.
Types of Wrongful Death Damages
When we file a wrongful death lawsuit, we ask the court to award all legally recoverable damages to our clients. Depending on the type of lawsuit, the accident circumstances, and the beneficiaries, the recoverable damages may include.
Economic damages
Non-economic damages
If a Liability Insurer Contacts You
Even if it seems clear that you have a valid wrongful death claim, you should never let a liability insurer influence or control your decisions. When a negligent policyholder reports a potential wrongful death claim, their insurer usually investigates the case on their behalf. As part of that process, they may seek information from you or your family members.
While an investigator’s actions may imply that they will settle your wrongful death claim, often they just need information to establish a claim reserve. Although an insurer may recognize a liability claim’s validity, they can’t and won’t settle until a court formally confirms the decedent’s personal representative and legal beneficiaries. After this occurs, they still might not commit to making an offer.
To protect your family’s legal interests, consider establishing a relationship with our law firm before an insurance investigator knocks on your door. We can deal with the insurance company, intervene on your behalf, and prevent them from contacting you in the future.
Contact The Bonin Law Team
If someone caused your loved one’s fatal injuries, you need immediate legal representation to protect your legal rights. Contact Bonin Law as soon as possible after your accident. You may reach us at (360) 427-7474 or send us a message below.