Cases We Handle

Wrongful Death Attorneys and Survivorship Actions Attorneys

The loss of a loved one is life's most stressful event.

A wife and mother of one boy suffered kidney failure requiring dialysis. While undergoing the surgical procedure of inserting a Permacath System for the dialysis process, the surgeon punctured an artery resulting in substantial blood loss leading to death. The defense claimed that such punctures are a known risk of the surgery, that the mother would have a reduced life expectancy due to her kidney failure and claimed use of recreational drugs such as cocaine as trace amounts were found in her system during hospitalization. Despite these arguments from the defense, the case settled for $750,000 against the surgeon.

The death of a parent or child is not only the saddest of calamities that can befall a person but the legal aspects and investigation of such a case often requires the utmost of a lawyer's skill and dedication.

When a person dies because of injuries caused by the wrongful acts and negligence of another person or the mistakes and failures of a corporation or a public entity, that failure to use ordinary care is actionable on behalf of the estate of the deceased and his heirs, namely his or her spouse and children who received benefit from the deceased during his or her life.

Unfortunately, there are significant limitations on what types of compensation are recoverable in wrongful death cases in the states of New Jersey and New York. Thus, careful attention must be paid to developing the claims of conscious pain and suffering of the deceased, proving recoverable losses to the beneficiaries and retaining the right experts to demonstrate fully the losses suffered. The aspects of harms and losses must be shown in clear detail so that a jury award or settlement can completely fix what harms can be fixed, to make up for what has been lost and to compensate for that which can not be fixed and can not be made up for. Economic damages are not limited to actual financial loss. Frequently a complete life story has to be told to fully communicate the losses of care, guidance, companionship, supervision and services that have been lost to the family members surviving.

A survivorship action is often discussed as a part of what is considered Wrongful Death litigation but is in fact a separate claim of the deceased's estate and is permitted under a separate statute than a Wrongful Death Claim. Simply put, it means that when a person has been injured by the wrong doing of another and eventually suffers death either due to that injury or an intervening event, the claim that he or she had during his lifetime against the wrongdoer for injuries sustained survives and is a claim that can be brought by his or her Estate for the conscious pain and suffering and money damages that may have been sustained prior to death.

Please contact our wrongful death attorneys for a free consultation. Call us at 201-585-9111, or contact us today with our quick inquiry form. We handle wrongful death cases in New Jersey and New York.