What a wrongful death attorney does for you

Wrongful death lawsuits are brought about in cases where someone dies a premature death being the result of the negligence or recklessness of another person and in some situations deliberate behavior. Wrongful death attorneys are specialized in handling this type of cases on behalf of the surviving family members in order to collect damages related to untimely death. It is good to understand what type of help you can expect from your lawyer in case you file such a lawsuit.

Investigations: A wrongful death attorney will first conduct investigations before they can take any action on behalf of your family. He will normally conduct a meeting with family members so as to gather as much information as possible about the deceased. Some of the information he will be seeking will include the health status of the deceased and what he did for a living, the company he worked for so as to see whether there is a probable cause so they can proceed with litigation.

Filing the Lawsuit and discovery: The attorney will then draft and file a complaint with the court; the responsible parties are served with a claim and the court sets deadlines. Discovery refers to the formal investigation of the facts that your wrongful death attorney collected. The court may ask the friends and relatives of the deceased to write about their knowledge of the accident and also produce medical records as well as legal documentation regarding that death.

Deposition and motions: At this stage witnesses come to the legal office to give their testimony about what they know to be facts of the case and this cannot be hearsay, it must be evidence as witnessed. Dispositive motions refer to the technical details that are also called pretrial motions which your lawyer takes to court on your behalf; this is allowed to give both parties the chance to resolve the issue or dispose legal action on any grounds and at this stage it is possible for litigation to get dismissed.
Mediation/Arbitration and settlement: Mediation and arbitration refers to methods that can be used to avoid the litigation from proceeding to trial. Mediation refers to a structured and formal attempt to reach a settlement by both parties. If both parties are in agreement they can involve an impartial third party to listen to their arguments and the arbitrator’s findings are considered final. Settlement can be reached at any point during the proceedings especially in cases where the defendant would rather not go to court.

Trial: Finally the legal action may end up in a trial that could last several weeks and even after the trial, if one party is not satisfied they can challenge the findings in the appellate court; however most wrongful death cases get settled before going for trial.