Brother or Sister's Wrongful Death.

A sibling’s wrongful death is a family tragedy. Not only are you mourning the loss of a brother or sister, but your whole family is suffering. A wrongful death claim might be the last thing on your mind, but a brother and sister may have the right to recover financial damages for the loss of their sibling, regardless of whether or not your late brother or sister was from a different parent than you.

Our Lawyers Can Help If You Were Financially Dependent on Your Sibling

Financial support can be proven in several ways and will not be limited in the way you might think. Your brother or sister’s earnings at the time of wrongful death will not limit your claim. Instead, your claim will actually include the value of what your brother or sister would have earned based on his or her age, education, skill, habits and ambition. Additionally, you can add any additional income from his or her employees if your late sibling owned his or her own business.

The responsible party’s insurance company will probably try to deduct from your award by stating that your late brother or sister did not provide you with any financial assistance prior to his or her death. As wrongful death lawyers, we can fight this by carefully examining the amount of money the late brother or sister would have contributed to support you, which includes maintenance, education and care to you if he or she not been killed.

We can also file for the cost of many future items:

Food
Clothing/Shoes
Shoes
Housing
Tuition and books
Personal grooming
Entertainment
Travel
Medical, dental and eye care
Gifts
Or any other items your sibling likely would have afforded.

You may also be able to recover money for funeral and burial expenses.

Emotional Damages Can Also be Claimed in a Sibling’s Wrongful Death

You should be able to recover money for loss of comfort, society and protection. The amount of recoverable money may be limited by the life expectancy of either the deceased or their brother or sister, whichever is shorter. A wrongful death attorney can even help if the deceased’s siblings are now grown up and on their own.

Call Us Now to Maximize Your Wrongful Death Settlement

Wrongful death claims are very complex and come during a difficult time. For these reasons we strongly recommend that you consult with an experienced wrongful death attorney from our San Diego law firm as soon as possible after your sibling’s death.

The responsible party’s insurance company will probably not explain all of your legal rights because it only wants to pay you as little as possible. As if that’s not enough, insurance companies will attempt to poke holes in your relationship, or they’ll even claim that you and your brother or sister lived far too away to see each other regularly.

You should not have to deal with this situation on your own. 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.