It is natural to feel anger, grief, and injustice in the face of a loved one’s passing. Even a death that you’re prepared for can devastate you for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, these feelings tend to compound when your loved one’s death was unexpected or, worse, avoidable.

If you want to translate those feelings into action, New Haven wrongful death lawyers can help. Baber Law’s team of experienced New Haven personal injury lawyers can help you and your family file a wrongful death claim after the death of a loved one. These claims can help you secure the financial aid you need to pay for a loved one’s funeral and contend with the losses they’ve left behind.

You May Have the Right to Wrongful Death Damages After a Loved One’s Passing

Connecticut has laws dictating who can represent a deceased individual in a civil trial. According to Section 52-555 of the Connecticut General Statutes, only a person’s executor or representative may file a wrongful death claim after their passing.

Anyone can elect a personal executor prior to their passing. Most of the time, anyone who’s drafted and notarized a will has informed a specific person of their status as that person’s executor. 

However, parties who fail to create wills or update their post-mortem wishes may not have a representative in place. In these cases, Connecticut may elect a representative on that person’s behalf. If you aren’t a person’s personal executor, don’t know who is, or aren’t sure that your loved one elected an executor, let our attorneys know. We can investigate on your behalf.

How to Secure Wrongful Death Damages

A deceased individual’s personal executor can work alongside experienced attorneys to investigate the nature of a loved one’s death. If that executor can bring forward evidence of negligence, our team can hold a liable party accountable for their inappropriate behavior in civil court.

That said, the complaint that a personal executor brings forward must be comprehensive. Wrongful death claims need to address:

• The specific nature of a deceased individual’s accident
• The specific behavior that saw a liable party violated the duty of care owed to the deceased party
• The estimated value of the deceased’s losses as generated prior to and after their passing
• What evidence the filing party has of negligence, liability, and the overall value of the relevant wrongful death claim

Filing an Independent Personal Injury Claim

If you are not the deceased’s personal executor, you still have the right to a personal injury claim. While you may not include the deceased individual’s losses in your request for post-accident compensation, you can cite your own injuries and financial losses as reasons to take a liable party to civil court.

This process also allows you to request loss of consortium, companionship, and wrongful death damages from the party liable for your injuries. You can discuss the exact value of these losses and their relevance to your case during a free consultation with a wrongful death lawyer in New Haven.

You Need to File Your Wrongful Death Claim Within Connecticut’s Statute of Limitations

As your loved one’s personal executor, you have to keep track of the filing deadlines relevant to any civil case you choose to pursue on that person’s behalf. If you want to bring a wrongful death claim forward in Connecticut civil court, you need to do so before the statute of limitations on your loved one’s case expires.

Connecticut outlines its statute of limitations on personal injury cases, including wrongful death cases, in General Statutes of Connecticut section 52-584. You have no more than two years to investigate a loved one’s passing and relevant losses. If you try to file a wrongful death claim more than two years after a loved one’s passing, a court can deny your right to action.

Keeping track of that deadline while also contending with your grief can feel patently unfair. Fortunately, you don’t have to conduct an investigation into your loved one’s passing alone. Wrongful death attorneys in New Haven, CT, can take point on your case while you circle the wagons and grieve with the rest of your family.

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You Control How Your Fight for Compensation Proceeds

If your loved one’s wrongful death case moves forward, you have the opportunity to choose how conversations about related compensation proceed. You have the right to go to court and request that a judge and jury determine your and your family’s right to compensation. This process can be lengthy but allows you to distance yourself from a liable party.

Alternatively, you can opt to pursue wrongful death settlement negotiations with the party allegedly responsible for your loved one’s passing. These conversations can be difficult, considering the nature of the defendant’s alleged misconduct. However, if you can negotiate for a settlement, you can resolve your dispute within weeks or months of a person’s passing.

You can discuss which of these paths forward best suits your temperament and situation with a wrongful death attorney. We can also alternate between these two options in response to a defendant’s behavior. For example, if you try to negotiate for a settlement and find the defendant to be insensitive or belligerent, we can transition you out of negotiations and into a trial.

Let’s Take a Loved One’s Wrongful Death to Court Today

There is no quick or easy way to recover from the unexpected passing of a loved one. You and your family need to take time to grieve with one another. While the pain of your loved one’s death may never entirely go away, spending time with the people you care about can ease the most immediate pain.

At the same time, you can seek justice for a loved one’s passing. Let the wrongful death attorneys in New Haven, CT, investigate your loved one’s accident. We can file a claim on your behalf and fight for your family’s right to post-accident damages. You can contact Baber Law to schedule a case consultation today. Call our office or reach out to our team online.