What is a human life worth? The philosophical answer, echoed in literature throughout the ages, is that life is priceless. The legal answer is much more complicated and frustrating.
Sacramento wrongful death lawyers will all agree that cases involving death are the most stressful cases to handle. Families go from having to adjust to the loss and absence of a loved one to being expected to assign and accept a monetary value for their loss. This is where a reasonable wrongful death attorney can step in and take the pressure off the family, giving them a tremendous amount of guidance, support, and advocacy where needed.
In California, you can assert claims for economic and non-economical losses caused by a wrongful death. Juries can sometimes blur what is classified as financial and non-economic losses.
Economical Loss
Economic damages can theoretically be attributed to an objective dollar value, such as the financial support that the loved one would have contributed to the family during the life expectancy and the loss of gifts or benefits the family would have anticipated receiving from the deceased. In addition to those items, other economic damages include the reasonable value of household services they would have provided and out-of-pocket expenses such as funeral and burial expenses.
Non-Economical Loss
In addition to economic losses, a skilled wrongful death lawyer will also guide his/her clients in seeking to recover for the non-economical damages. Many assume these damages include the pain and suffering of the decedent or the family members. Unfortunately, that assumption is incorrect, as California Law expressly prohibits recovering for those types of damages in a wrongful death action. Unfortunately, California Law does not permit the recovery of grief or sorrow either.
However, non-economical damages can include things that look and feel similar to pain and suffering, such as the loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, moral support, training, and guidance. Consequently, while you cannot technically recover pain and suffering in a wrongful death action, a skilled wrongful death attorney can recover many of the same items that give rise to pain and suffering.
Calculating the Damages
There is no fixed standard for calculating or deciding the amount of non-economical damages. This becomes an area where a reasonable wrongful death attorney can provide the most value to their client.
Wrongful death actions, by their nature, are severe and should be handled with care. In helping the jury compute the appropriate amount of damages, a wrongful death attorney will include testimony as to not only the relationship between the decedent and the family but also to the decedent’s life expectancy, health, habits, lifestyle, activities, and even occupation.
When selecting a wrongful death attorney to handle your case, be sure to choose one who you believe will personally be working on your file and not just assigning it to staff members. A reasonable wrongful death attorney gets to know all the small details of how a decedent’s family has been impacted and presents those matters respectably and thoroughly.
If you believe you have a wrongful death case, please call Kyle K. Tambornini, or one of our experienced Sacramento wrongful death lawyers, to discuss your case.
