Orlando Wrongful Death Lawyers

Determining Liability in Fatal Accidents

Corporations and insurance providers often move quickly after a fatal incident to limit their financial exposure. They may launch their own investigations aimed at shifting blame away from their policyholders, sometimes before a grieving family has even had the chance to secure legal counsel.

They may try to minimize safety problems, blame the victim, or shift responsibility to someone else. That is why families need their own investigation to begin as soon as possible. Acting quickly helps preserve important evidence.

Our team reviews crash reports, safety records, maintenance logs, and other available evidence to build a clear, well-supported timeline of what happened. Where relevant, we look into whether the party responsible had a history of similar incidents or known safety concerns that went unaddressed.

This process takes time and attention to detail, but it's what allows us to present a case that clearly connects the incident to the negligence behind it, rather than leaving that connection open to dispute.

Calculating Damages in a Florida Wrongful Death Claim

Fairly valuing the loss of a loved one means considering both the immediate and long-term impacts on the family. A fatal accident takes away a family's ongoing financial support, emotional companionship, and sense of stability, none of which is easy to reduce to a number.

Under Florida law, the damages available in a wrongful death claim can include:

• Lost financial support. The income and financial contributions the family would have continued to receive.
• Lost future earnings and benefits. The value of what the deceased would likely have earned over their working life, including benefits like retirement contributions.
• Loss of companionship and guidance. Compensation for surviving spouses and children for the loss of care, comfort, and parental guidance.
• Mental and emotional pain and suffering. Available to a surviving spouse, and to minor children in most cases, for the emotional toll of the loss.
• Medical expenses. Costs related to the deceased's final injury or illness, if paid by a family member or the estate.
• Funeral and burial expenses. Costs incurred by the family or the estate.

Our team works with economic analysts to project lost earning capacity over time, factoring in factors such as age, career trajectory, and expected future income. We also document the impact on surviving family members so that the full scope of the loss is represented, not just the financial portion. This kind of thorough documentation is what allows us to push back when a settlement offer doesn't reflect the true scope of what a family has lost.