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Car Accident
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(877) 880-4090
No amount of money can compensate for the loss of a loved one in a fatal car accident, but the financial aftermath can be an enormous additional burden on survivors. Navigating the complex legal and insurance process after any accident is a challenge, even more so when the court must make extra determinations about the impact losing someone has on a family.
The team of experienced and compassionate attorneys at Fielding Law is here to guide you through the stages of claiming eligible damages after an accident. If you lost a loved one in a fatal auto accident due to the negligence or malice of another driver, we’ll work hard to protect your rights to the compensation you deserve.
According to the Utah Highway Safety Office, 25,645 people were injured in car accidents in 2018, with 260 collisions resulting in fatalities. These numbers are upsetting, but it’s also helpful to know that you’re not the only one dealing with the intricacies of insurance law in the case of a fatal accident. While each state determines its requirements for car accident settlements, some accident characteristics lead to more significant settlement amounts, such as:
The attorneys at Fielding Law fight for your right to the damages you’ve experienced due to these and other car accidents. If you’re dealing with a loved one’s fatal car accident, we will help you make a claim for the two categories of damages you may be eligible for: Economic and non-economic.
Most settlements for car accidents are designed to cover the financial losses a crash victim experiences. Car accidents resulting in the victim’s death may also allow survivors to claim additional damages, such as funeral expenses. Typical economic damages cover specific economic losses, including:
Non-economic damages, on the other hand, are calculated differently. These types of losses involve permanent disability or long-term loss of earning capacity. Non-economic damages from a car accident may include:
The Federal Highway Administration developed the KABCO scale to assess the severity of car accident injuries and explain their impact on the cost of an auto collision. This scale helps determine the costs associated with severe or debilitating trauma in a crash. The KABCO labels assigned to collisions vary slightly by state, but most consider a fatal accident one in which the victim:
In Utah, responding police officers must determine the severity of any injuries at the crash scene, except when the victim passes away from crash injuries later. The officer must amend the report to include the label of five for fatalities and then send the revised version to the Driver License Division. This report is critical to claiming additional damages for fatal car accidents.
In some car accidents, the offender caused the victim’s death through cruel negligence or with intent. When someone other than the victim is at fault, it’s considered a wrongful death, and the other party’s fault is unmistakable. Even if the at-fault party escapes criminal punishment, the victim’s family can still sue them in civil court for wrongful death.
If a wrongful death claim moves to trial, a jury determines the defendant’s responsibility for the victim’s death. Most of the time, however, wrongful death claims are determined in pre-trial settlement negotiations. When you accept a pre-trial settlement, you also agree to give up your right to pursue the claim against the defendant. Working with a qualified attorney ensures you’ll receive fair compensation for your loss. Either way, several factors contribute to calculating the damages in these cases.
Surviving family members are the beneficiaries of wrongful death settlements, particularly those who relied on the victim financially and for support. Thus the loss of a parent with several minor children will command a significantly higher settlement than a family member not responsible for supporting anyone else. That said, the loss of older parents or grandparents is still a loss of their guidance and comfort, along with any economic support they provided.
As part of a wrongful death suit, a lost-wages claim is based on the victim’s potential earnings, especially if the victim was financially responsible for any surviving family members. This means that the higher an accident victim’s wages, the greater the lost wages. The age and health of the accident victim also play a role in determining potential earnings, as younger, healthier victims can be assumed to have had a longer work expectancy overall.
Resolving compensation in a wrongful death suit also involves deciding the relative fault of all parties involved in the accident. Comparative negligence is a principle used to assign the degree of negligence for all parties in an accident and limit the amount of a plaintiff’s recoverable damages. In other words, the court must determine whether the victim’s negligence contributed to the accident and is eligible for reduced or even zero damages.
Some states are pure contributory negligence states, and plaintiffs found to have contributed to the accident even slightly are not permitted to seek compensation for damages. Even if the negligence is estimated at 1%, neither plaintiffs nor their surviving families can collect damages. These states maintain pure contributory negligence laws:
Other states, including Utah, use modified comparative negligence to settle wrongful death claims. This category includes two more specific types: the 50 percent bar rule and the 51 percent bar rule.
Under the 50 percent bar rule, the plaintiff or the family may not recover any damages if they’re found to be 50% or more at fault for the accident. Utah is a modified comparative negligence state with the 50 percent bar rule, so if you’re 50% at fault, you cannot recover any damages. On the other hand, if the court finds that you’re only 49% at fault, you may receive 49% of the damages awarded at the case’s conclusion.
The 51 percent bar rule prohibits plaintiffs who have been assigned 51% or more of the fault from recovering any damages. Similarly, if you’re found to be 50% or less at fault for the accident, you can be awarded the appropriate remaining damages.
The complicated mountain of insurance requirements and legal responsibilities can feel insurmountable when dealing with the aftermath of a loved one’s fatal car accident. At Fielding Law, we understand these challenges and want to help you obtain the compensation you deserve. Call us at (877) 880-4090 to get the legal guidance and support you need right away.