Child's Wrongful Death.

The last thing any parent wants is to lose a child to a wrongful death. If you find yourself in this situation, our personal injury law firm in San Diego can help. Our wrongful death lawyers care about you and your family, and we can protect your family’s rights and make sure that the legal affairs of your child’s wrongful death are not pushed aside.

Any Parent Can Recover for a Child’s Wrongful Death

Believe it or not, any parent can recover for a child’s wrongful death, so it doesn’t matter if you are the natural, illegitimate or adopted parent. Your child’s age (minor or adult), marital status (married, unmarried or divorced) or income level (financially dependent or independent) don’t matter either in a wrongful death claim. If your child was all grown up living on his or her own, our wrongful death attorneys can strengthen your claim by showing the quality of your relationship and how often you two visited one another.

Financial Support is a Big Part of a Wrongful Death Claim

Financial support can be shown in several ways. First and foremost, we look at your child’s earnings before the wrongful death. This does not, however, limit your wrongful death claim. A good wrongful death lawyer would argue that the value of your case should be what your child would have earned had he or she not suffered a wrongful death. This would include the late child’s age, education, skill, personal habits and ambition before the wrongful death.

Your financial situation usually does not matter in a wrongful death claim. There are some important factors to consider in a wrongful death claim:

Would your child have provided benefits to you from his or her earnings before or after he or she became an adult?
Did you spend (or were you planning on spending) any money on your child’s education?
Did your child run errands on your behalf?
Did your child assist with the planning or preparation of meals?
Did your child mow the lawn or landscape for you?
Did your child repair or build things around your house?
Did your child care for or watch over any of your other children?
Did your child help run the family business?

You may also collect money for medical bills as well as funeral and burial expenses.

Emotional Damages for a Child’s Wrongful Death

You may be able to recover for what is legally called the loss of comfort, society and protection, as well as for financial losses that would have been provided to you. The total sum of your wrongful death recovery is limited to your life expectancy or your child’s, whichever is shorter.

Call Us Now to Maximize Your Wrongful Death Settlement

Due to this claim’s complexity, we strongly recommend that you consult with an experienced wrongful death lawyer as soon as possible. Since 1992, our San Diego law firm’s wrongful death lawyers have represented families who lost a child in an automobile accident and fought against insurance companies.

In addition to the sorrow your family must go through after the wrongful death of your child, you also have to deal with the insurance companies. Insurance companies do not have to explain all of your legal rights to you, and they only want to pay you as little as possible. Insurance company lawyers may also try to disparage your relationship with your children.

You should not have to deal with this situation on your own. Our wrongful death lawyers can shield you from insurance companies and prevent them from attacking your relationship with your child.

Call us now at 1-800-655-6585 for a FREE consultation with an experienced wrongful death attorney in San Diego or click here to submit your case for a FREE online review. We handle all cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that you owe nothing until we recover money on your behalf.

Most Recent Blog Post

[caption id="attachment_21715" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo Credit: The San Diego Union Tribune"][/caption] Last week, we reported on a car accident in San Diego that resulted out of alleged teen street racing. In new developments, the 18-year-old driver charged with the death of the two teenagers involved in the street racing has pleaded not guilty to vehicular manslaughter among four other charges according to reports at the San Diego Union Tribune. The news follows the earlier arrest of another 16-year-old driver that was taken into custody on similar charges. Just shortly after his arraignment, Michael Johnson, the 18-year-old driver of a Volvo S40, said, according to his attorney, that he is not the responsible party in the tragic San Diego accident fatalities that occurred April 4. Accident reports indicate that Johnson was returning from a spring break beach party in La Jolla when he was allegedly involved in a street racing contest with another teen driver – the unidentified 16-year-old driver of a Volkswagen Passat whose name has not been released since he is a minor. According to Deputy District Attorney Kristen Spieler, the two vehicles were zigzagging across lanes at speeds reaching up to a staggering 100 m.p.h. The 16-year-old driver in the Passat lost control over the vehicle, causing the car to flip over several times across multiple lanes of the road. Two passengers, Anthony Foreman, 18, and Jayli Campbell, 16, were thrown from the Passat and died at the scene of the accident. Two passengers survived the crash. Charlotte McQuillen, survived the accident although she suffered serious injury as a result of the collision including reports that say the teen will have to recover from traumatic brain injury. Anthoney Taylor, 16, also survived the crash although his injuries are unclear at this time. Johnson did not flee the scene of the accident according to police reports and cooperated with authorities once officers assessed the scene of the collision. The teen has no prior criminal record, although authorities say his vehicle was found containing a small amount of marijuana. Johnson is being charged with intoxicated driving, although his lawyer says there were no field sobriety tests to confirm the teen’s alleged intoxication. Teen driving: reminders for concerned parents Last week, we blogged on actions parents can take to prevent teen car accidents. Tips include:

Sign a parent-teen contract. Download your free contract now.
Enforcing the rules. Every teen driver needs to know that rules are there for a purpose, and when they are broken, consequences will follow.
Have a DUI backup plan. As most parents can attest, there are many instances when teen drivers run into problems that supersede their know-how and maturity. Drinking is one of those problems. In cases of emergency, your teen should have an open-door policy where they feel safe to call you when they need help – such in the case of drunk driving or driving while intoxicated.

About the Law Offices of Michael Pines, APC The Law Offices of Michael Pines, APC are specialists in car accident injury. Every personal injury attorney in our San Diego office works hard to seek maximum recovery for every injured client. Your case is handled without any out-of-pocket costs, so do not hesitate to speak to a San Diego personal injury lawyer today for a free legal evaluation. Call us at 1-800-655-6585.