Winston-Salem Wrongful Death Damages

Generally speaking, damages are the harms and losses that were the result of a particular incident and, in this case, caused the unnecessary death of an individual.

In comparison to other injury cases, the damages in a Winston-Salem wrongful death action different in certain ways. The damages for wrongful death case are set out in a statute in North Carolina General Statute 28a-18-2. It includes expenses for things such as medical expenses, pain and suffering of the decedent, loss of earnings, and funeral expenses.

However, different from the ordinary personal injury case, wrongful death statutes allow for the recovery of money to compensate the individual’s heirs for things like loss of services, protection, care and assistance of the decedent, society, companionship, comfort and guidance, and any sort of direct financial support from the decedent. So, that is different than the regular personal injury case. Only the personal representative of the decedent can file for or receive damages on behalf of the heirs in a wrongful death action in Winston-Salem.

Companionship

Companionship is specifically listed as an element of damages in the wrongful death statute. It is used to attempt to compensate a spouse for the loss of the love and companionship they had with the individual. There are so many ways that a spouse has lost their companion. For example, they can no longer go out for dinner together and do not have their companionship and daily presence in their life. While financial compensation can never replace a loved one, it can

Society, companionship, comfort, guidance, kindly offices and advice of the decedent are included in the specific language of the statute to determine companionship damages in a wrongful death suit. Society generally means the ability to interact with the deceased individual, do social activities with them, and things of that nature.

Economic Damages

The overarching theory of economic damages in a wrongful death action is by making an actor responsible for damages, it will cause them, and people in general, to act more safely. That is the role that they play. By holding people responsible for their damages, they will be encouraged to be safe.

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Role of an Attorney

An attorney will set types of goals for himself or herself in order to give the clients what they need for the case. These include identifying all potential heirs, because those are the people entitled to receive the proceeds of a wrongful death settlement under the statute, and maximizing their recovery. The goal of the wrongful death statute itself is to provide support to those who relied on the deceased person and to provide the biggest amount of support for the heirs from the settlement.

An experienced wrongful death attorney can help clients to calculate the hard economic damages in this kind of case. There are the hard the economic numbers like loss of net income, tax returns, pay stubs, and medical expenses, which are easier to calculate. Funeral bills are also easier to calculate. Other damages, such as the loss of companionship, will be calculated by an outside expert.