When you lose someone you love very much, filing a lawsuit might be the last thing on your mind. After all, you are in a lot of pain and experience a great deal of suffering. This is what happens to those who suddenly find themselves in a situation they might have never been before: losing their loved one, which is very difficult to deal with. The clock is ticking though. There is a certain amount of time you have in order to file a lawsuit against those you suspect caused the death of your loved one. If the time runs out, you are barred forever from the possibility of filing a lawsuit. Because of this, hiring a Homestead Hospital accident lawyer as soon as possible is a smart move.
There seems to be a lot of confusion when it comes to the concept of damages you can collect as the result of the lawsuit. Here you will find a few types you are very likely to collect:
1. Medical bills. If your loved one died in a hospital, it happened due to some sort of treatment. It is very likely that your loved one spent some money on said treatment and you should be able to claim it back.
2. Burial expenses. All of the expenses related to the burial should be covered by the defending party.
3. Lost wages the deceased would have made. This is a large portion of the damages. If your loved one worked before they died, their death might put a huge toll on your finances. The judge should calculate how much your loved one would have made had he not died compared to his normal life expectancy.
4. Compensation for pain and suffering of the family of the deceased. It is true that it is difficult to out a price on suffering and pain, but there are certain ways in which a judge can calculate how much you should be compensated for that.
5. Punitive damages. This is something that only certain states allow, so don’t assume that punitive damages will happen in your case. Those damages are supposed to punish and prevent similar behavior that might happen in the future.