Few people are ever fully prepared to file a lawsuit, let alone a wrongful death claim.
Losing a loved one, after all, entails much more than grief. Grief alone is often enough to make everyday life unrecognizable. Beyond emotional hardship, losing a loved one also means losing a critical pillar of support. Funerals can cost substantial amounts of money, and reconfiguring your finances to account for a loss of income could make an unwelcome change seem inevitable.
However, no amount of money can ever compensate for the loss of a parent, spouse, or child; however, filing a product liability lawsuit may serve a greater purpose. Negotiating a settlement could provide a means to guarantee your financial stability or present an opportunity to ensure that a negligent company is compelled to reform, thereby protecting others from enduring the unthinkable.
The Different Types Of Product Liability Lawsuits
You could be entitled to file a wrongful death lawsuit if you lost a loved one in an accident that was caused, either primarily or in part, by a defective product. Defects can occur at almost any point during design, manufacturing, or distribution, but most product liability claims involve:
- Manufacturing defects;
- Design defects;
- Inadequate or missing warnings; or
- Breaches of warranty.
The Requirements To Obtain Wrongful Death Damages In New York State
As a general rule, if an accident victim would have had standing to file a personal injury lawsuit had they survived, then their estate has standing to initiate a wrongful death claim. However, you can only sue if you meet other requirements. You must, for example, be able to establish all of the following:
- In New York, only certain parties have the legal standing to file a wrongful death lawsuit. In some states, any immediate family member has this right. But in New York, most wrongful death lawsuits can only be filed by the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate. If the lawsuit succeeds, the damages are distributed to the decedent’s surviving family members.
- The product was defective. You can only file a product liability lawsuit if a defective product caused the accident. However, this does not require that the accident had no other causes. If, for instance, an accident victim’s brakes failed at a critical moment, they may be able to file separate claims against the manufacturer of the brakes as well as an at-fault driver whose negligence contributed to a collision.
- The defective product caused your accident. Depending on the circumstances of the case, correctly identifying a defect and attributing liability for its existence may be challenging and may warrant the involvement of expert witnesses.
- You must be able to show that you have sustained damages to secure a wrongful death settlement or court-ordered award. In the context of a product liability claim, the term “damages” refers to compensation for various forms of loss and hardship.
Establishing any of these elements could prove unexpectedly difficult, particularly if there are unanswered questions regarding the accident and its exact causes. However, you should not let gaps in the narrative dissuade you from contacting an attorney. In many wrongful death claims, the whole story only comes out after your product liability lawyer has launched an investigation and analyzed the evidence presented during discovery.