When you lose a family member unexpectedly because of an accident or act of criminal violence in Montgomery, Alabama, it’s important to surround yourself with people you can trust. Contact our Montgomery wrongful death attorney today at 334-513-2110 to schedule a free consultation.
For decades, grieving families in Alabama have trusted Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers to help them fight for monetary justice after life-changing accidents. Our award-winning litigators, whose collective experience spans over 93 years, have successfully forced insurance companies and other corporations to pay clients hundreds of millions in damages.
Money might not take away the hurt you feel. It won’t bring your spouse, child, or parent back to you. However, it can make a world of difference as you begin to move forward. Let our personal injury lawyers help you get every cent you deserve.
How Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help With a Wrongful Death Claim in Montgomery
Don’t let the insurance company manipulate you during this stressful time in your life. Force them to make things right by hiring an experienced Montgomery personal injury lawyer to be your advocate.
Your choice of legal representation matters. You deserve to work with a law firm that’s known for standing up for the rights of its clients and making a difference in their lives when they’re dealing with tragedy.
Choosing Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers puts award-winning Alabama trial attorneys who genuinely care about you and your future in your corner. We’ve earned top honors from some of the most prestigious legal organizations in the country, including Best Lawyers, the National Association of Distinguished Counsel, Super Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers, and Martindale-Hubbell.
We’re here to make sure you have the time to grieve your loss properly and also get the compensation you deserve.
Trust our Montgomery wrongful death lawyers to:
- Carefully investigate your loved one’s fatal injuries and the circumstances surrounding their premature death
- Evaluate accident reports, property damage, forensics reports, witness statements, and other evidence that might be helpful to your wrongful death case
- Collaborate with expert witnesses throughout the claims process
- Assess your family’s damages and calculate what your wrongful death case is worth
- Work hard to engage in productive negotiations with the defense to get you the best possible settlement agreement
- Support you by offering advice when you’re asked to make decisions about resolving your legal claim for damages
- Argue the merits of your wrongful death lawsuit at trial in Montgomery County, if necessary
Our personal injury law firm wants to help you make the most of a difficult situation. Our contingency fee representation means you’ll pay nothing until our Montgomery personal injury lawyers recover damages on your behalf. Contact our law office in Montgomery, AL, to set a time for a complimentary case evaluation now with a Montgomery personal injury attorney.
What Is Wrongful Death?
Under Alabama Code § 6-5-410, wrongful death is defined as a death caused by the “wrongful act, omission, or negligence of any person.”
If the decedent could have filed a personal injury claim for damages if they’d survived their fatal wounds, the right to seek damages transfers to another party upon their death.
In Alabama, this right belongs to the personal representative of the decedent’s estate. Most often, this is a person named in the decedent’s will. If the victim dies intestate, the court reserves the right to appoint a representative. The representative is often a child, a family member, a close family friend, or a personal injury attorney.
Any damages awarded in a wrongful death lawsuit are paid to the victim’s estate and distributed to surviving heirs. As a result, potential beneficiaries can include a spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, or other family members.
Advocates For Families in All Types of Montgomery Wrongful Death Cases
When an accident is fatal, and someone you love is taken from you unexpectedly, you deserve to have a trustworthy and passionate legal advocate in your corner.
At Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers, we help clients seek justice after the wrongful death of family members resulting from:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Bus accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Boating accidents
- Recreational vehicle accidents
- Medical malpractice
- Birth injury
- Construction accidents
- Workplace accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Dog bites
- Assault
- Sexual assault
- Negligent security
- Defective products
- Catastrophic injuries
With over nine decades of collective legal experience, we can offer the knowledge and skills you’ll need to take on a powerful insurance company and fight for the monetary justice your family deserves. Learn more about how we can help by calling our Montgomery law office today.
Can Contributory Negligence Affect My Family’s Alabama Wrongful Death Settlement?
Yes. Alabama is one of four states that have adopted a system of contributory negligence. Simply put, sharing any degree of responsibility for an accident automatically disqualifies you from recovering compensation in a personal injury case.
In matters of wrongful death, the decedent’s contributory negligence prevents the estate from recovering damages in a wrongful death claim.
Since shared fault can have such a significant effect on a family’s ability to recover compensation, it’s common for insurance companies to point fingers and blame the decedent for the accident in which they died. If these claims aren’t challenged aggressively, the family will be left without legal recourse.
Our Alabama wrongful death attorneys in Montgomery will anticipate these strategies and have a plan in place to contest them. We’ll gather evidence to disprove the allegations, challenge witness reliability, and do everything in our power to let unsubstantiated claims of shared fault stand between you and the compensation you deserve.
What Types of Damages Can Be Awarded If I Win My Wrongful Death Case?
Wrongful death claims are different from other personal injury cases in a lot of different ways. None are more apparent than in the types of damages that can be awarded to a victim’s family.
In some states, families can recover compensatory damages – including both economic and non-economic awards – to help them cover the costs of a funeral, pay for medical care incurred before death, offset a loss of financial support, and compensate for the pain and suffering of losing someone you love.
In Alabama, however, compensatory damages aren’t available. Only punitive damages can be awarded to the decedent’s estate.
Punitive damages are appropriate when a Montgomery jury finds by clear and convincing evidence that a defendant’s conduct was:
- Fraudulent
- Oppressive, or
- Malicious.
Put another way; a family can be compensated for wrongful death if a defendant acted intentionally or displayed a conscious disregard for the victim’s safety.
What Do I Have to Prove to Win a Wrongful Death Case?
While some cases can be based on intentional torts or strict liability, most wrongful death lawsuits are founded on the tort of negligence.
Negligence involves a deviation from expected standards of care that, in turn, causes a person’s untimely death.
When your wrongful death claim is based on negligence, you’ll need to prove the defendant:
- Owed your family member a duty of care
- Breached this duty of care by acting unreasonably under the circumstances
- Was the direct and proximate cause of your family member’s death
Alabama law requires negligence actions to be proven by a preponderance of the evidence. You’ll need facts, evidence, and arguments that make it clear that your allegations are more likely true than not.
Don’t stress out about how to prove your case and get the financial justice you deserve. Take time to grieve and trust our Montgomery wrongful death attorneys to build a compelling legal claim that helps you maximize your recovery.
Is There a Filing Deadline for Wrongful Death Lawsuits in Alabama?
Yes. A wrongful death lawsuit must ordinarily be filed within two years of a person’s wrongful death.
The two-year statute of limitations has few exceptions, such as situations where the cause of a person’s death is concealed fraudulently.
If you miss the filing deadline, your family will lose the right to recover compensation for your life-changing loss.
Schedule a Free Consultation With an Experienced Montgomery Wrongful Death Lawyer
Have you lost a close family member in Montgomery, Alabama, because of someone else’s reckless actions? Call Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers. You deserve justice. Our Montgomery wrongful death lawyers are here to help you fight for every cent you need and deserve.
We’re top-rated Alabama litigators with a proven track record of changing the lives of the people we represent. Our case results include hundreds of millions in settlements and jury awards.
Call our law office in Montgomery, AL, to discover how we can help your family after a tragic loss, too. Your initial case evaluation with our legal team is free.
Belt, Bruner & Barnett Personal Injury Lawyers – Montgomery Office
7 Clayton St, Suite 200,
Montgomery, AL 36104
(334) 513-2110