Recovering damages after a fatal motor vehicle accident

If you have lost a loved one in a Seattle car accident, you know that life will never be the same. Filing a wrongful death claim against the parties responsible for the accident that took your loved one’s life may help you recover damages to support you and your family as you grieve your loss.

Proving negligence

A wrongful death claim requires you to establish that another party acted negligently or recklessly and that their negligence caused the fatal motor vehicle accident that killed your loved one. Many car accidents are caused by driver negligence.

This means that the driver breached the duty owed to others on the road by failing to adhere to traffic laws or otherwise operating their vehicle negligently. For example, a driver may cause an accident by negligently failing to stop at a stop sign or exceeding the speed limit.

Who can file a wrongful death claim?

In Washington, you must be a personal representative of the deceased person’s estate to file a wrongful death claim for damages. The personal representative will file the claim on behalf of beneficiaries, such as a surviving spouse/domestic partner, surviving children, or parents or siblings of the deceased (if they have no surviving spouse/domestic partner or kids).

What damages are recoverable?

Surviving family members can recover both economic and noneconomic damages. Economic damages are intended to cover financial losses such as:

• Medical expenses for the deceased.
• Funeral and burial costs.
• Lost wages of the deceased.
• Loss of earning capacity of the deceased.
• Loss of household services that would have been contributed by the deceased.

Noneconomic damages include:

• Loss of companionship/consortium.
• Pain and suffering.
• Emotional distress.

No amount of money can alleviate the pain of losing a loved one. However, financial support during this difficult time can help you and your family move forward.

Matthew D. Dubin

Matt Dubin has spent more than 20 years honing his skills as one of the top personal injury lawyers in the State of Washington. In his career, Matt has focused on protecting consumers from dangerous household products, medical mistakes, roadway accidents, and many other causes of injury. Matt has recovered nearly $20 million on behalf of his clients.

Education

• License Number: 25378
• University of Washington School of Law, Seattle, Washington – J.D.
• Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut – B.A.

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