Accidents happen in an instant and can have tragic consequences. If you have found this webpage, you may have recently lost somebody you love due to a preventable accident. Such a traumatic, sudden loss can leave people feeling overwhelmed and unsure of how they’ll be able to move forward with their lives, mainly because fatal accidents frequently leave families with serious financial issues.

As Shasta Lake wrongful death lawyers, we take pride in helping families recover their financial and personal well-being after fatal accidents. If you lost someone in an accident, please call our legal team at (800) 404-5400 or (530) 392-9400 for a free consultation.

Many law firms will take on any case they can get, but we specialize in our practice and only handle cases that involve a primary or deadly injury. Because we’ve focused on these cases for almost four decades, our attorneys are experts at handling high-value claims. While we are selective about the cases we handle, there are several different kinds of fatal accidents that we work on, including the following:

• Car accidents
• Traumatic brain injury cases
• Motorcycle accidents
• Workplace accidents
• Medical malpractice cases
• Products liability cases
• Pedestrian accidents
• Boat accidents
• Farm equipment accidents
• Plane accidents

The unexpected loss of somebody you love can be challenging, and many grieving individuals feel an intense mix of emotions, including anger, confusion, fear, anxiety, sadness, and more. In some cases, fatal accidents can leave people shocked and unable to process what happened. No matter what grieving looks like for you, it’s essential to do what you can to take care of yourself and those you care about.

While grief might feel overwhelming, grieving people can do some things to seek comfort. By seeking support from friends, family, and members of their communities, those who’ve lost people in fatal accidents often find it easier to cope and process their emotions. To learn a bit more about the grieving process, take a minute to watch the following video:

After fatal accidents, family members and dependents of the decedent can seek compensation from negligent parties through wrongful death claims. These claims are outlined in the California Code of Civil Procedure. For a fatal accident to qualify as wrongful death, the fatality must have been caused by an at-fault party’s negligence or lack of actions.

The parties eligible to claim compensation through wrongful death claims include the following:

• Children
• Spouses
• Grandchildren of deceased children
• Putative spouses or children of putative spouses
• Stepchildren
• Minors who were at least 50% financially dependent on the decedent

The payments issued through these claims are lump sums and must be divided privately between eligible parties.

Losing a loved one is emotionally challenging, and families frequently face significant financial issues. For instance, the decedent may have been their household’s primary income source or provided their family with essential services that are expensive to replace, like childcare, home maintenance, or cleaning. Families are also often charged for medical treatments their loved ones received before passing.

Thankfully, all of these damages can be pursued through wrongful death claims. In addition to these economic damages, wrongful death claims include payments for non-economic damages related to your personal suffering. These include things like loss of spousal companionship, loss of parental guidance, and more. Because emotional suffering damages are hard to define with an exact dollar amount, it’s essential to have an attorney to ensure that at-fault parties and insurance companies don’t try to get away with lowball offers.

Technically, families have up to two years to file a wrongful death claim from the date of death. However, significant exceptions exist, including government entities, medical malpractice cases, etc. Because of this, it’s essential to contact a Shasta Lake wrongful death lawyer as soon as possible.

Furthermore, at-fault parties typically aren’t experiencing grief and will start building a legal defense immediately. By taking early and aggressive action, these parties often attempt to disclaim responsibility for what happened, potentially leaving families unable to claim the payments they deserve. To prevent this, having an attorney on your side as early as possible is best. When lawyers can get a head-start working on a wrongful death case, they can be more effective while defending your family’s right to fair compensation.

For families dealing with wrongful death cases, it is essential to get legal help. If you lost someone in an accident, please call our Shasta Lake wrongful death attorneys at (800) 404-5400 or (530) 392-9400 to receive free, friendly legal advice from an expert attorney.

We’ve helped people living in the Shasta Lake area with wrongful death cases for 38 years. You can learn about us and our history of legal advocacy by reading through our list of prior settlements and verdicts.

^{Editor’s Note: updated [cha 9.12.23] Picture: pexels-pixabay ms llo [cs 852]}