If you’ve recently lost a close family member in a fatal accident in St. Louis, Missouri, now is the time to call Roach Law Car Accident Lawyers at (636) 519-0085 for help. You need time to focus on your loss. Our experienced St. Louis wrongful death lawyers will take on your legal claim and fight to get you the compensation you need and deserve.
Roach Law Car Accident Lawyers has been trusted by grieving families in St. Louis for more than 20 years. Our award-winning Missouri trial attorneys embrace client-focused, individualized legal representation, which ensures that each and every person our law firm represents benefits from our decades of experience and expansive resources. The results: hundreds of millions recovered from insurance companies, governments, and corporations.
Contact our law office in St. Louis, MO, today to discover how we can help your family navigate this difficult time. Your first consultation is free.
How Roach Law Car Accident Lawyers Can Help After a Fatal Accident in St. Louis, MO
Even though the insurance company might appear to be sympathetic to your loss, don’t trust them to put your family’s best interests front and center. In fact, expect the insurer (and other liable parties) to do everything possible to stand between you and the compensation you deserve after your loved one’s death.
Don’t let their manipulative tactics work. Force more meaningful settlement negotiations and better results by trusting our St. Louis personal injury lawyer to handle your wrongful death case.
Choosing Roach Law Car Accident Lawyers means working with top-rated Missouri litigators who’ve been recognized by Super Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers, the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, Avvo, and other respected organizations. When you put our law firm in your corner, the defense will take note.
Count on us to take care of all aspects of your wrongful death case:
- Investigate the underlying circumstances of your loved one’s death in a timely fashion
- Gather key pieces of evidence we’ll need to construct a winning claim for damages
- Enlist expert witnesses and specialists to weigh in as we build your case and calculate your damages
- Depose eyewitnesses and other parties who might have critical insight into your case
- File your legal claim with the insurance company and/or local court clerk
- Represent your family’s best interests during settlement negotiations with the insurance company
- Bring your family’s wrongful death lawsuit to a St. Louis jury, if necessary
We understand that the sudden and tragic loss of a family member can be overwhelming. We’re here to help you make things right. Our law firm represents families on contingency, so it costs nothing unless we win compensation for your wrongful death case.
Ready to learn more and get started? Contact our St. Louis law office to set up a time for a free case evaluation. Our team is ready to take your call right now.
What Is a Wrongful Death Case?
Wrongful death cases are a type of personal injury dispute. Typically, in a personal injury claim, you have the right to file a lawsuit when you’re injured because of another person’s negligence or wrongdoing.
However, what happens if an accident victim doesn’t survive? In these situations, the right to seek damages can shift to another party. That subsequence legal claim is known as a wrongful death case.
Under Missouri law, you may have the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit if:
- A family member’s death was caused by another party’s “ act, conduct, occurrence, transaction, or circumstance,” and
- If death had not ensued, would have entitled such person to recover damages in respect thereof.
In other words, if your loved one would have been able to sue for damages if they survived, you can step into their shoes and take legal action.
What Are the Most Common Causes of Wrongful Death in St. Louis?
While almost anything that results in an avoidable death can set the stage for a wrongful death lawsuit, some of the most common causes include:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Uber and Lyft accidents
- Bus accidents
- Mass transit accidents
- Construction accidents
- Workplace accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Negligent security
- Assault
- Sexual assault
- Dog bites
- Matters of product liability
- Birth injury
- Medical malpractice
- Nursing home abuse
- Catastrophic injuries
If you suspect that your loved one’s death was caused by another person’s negligence, intentionally harmful actions, or omission, you may have the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Contact Roach Law Car Accident Lawyers, and our St. Louis wrongful death attorneys can help you explore your legal rights and options.
Can Shared Fault Affect My Family’s Missouri Wrongful Death Settlement?
Simply put, yes. Missouri’s pure comparative negligence statute applies to all civil personal injury lawsuits – including matters of wrongful death.
Under the state’s comparative fault law, a plaintiff’s ability to recover compensation is reduced if they share responsibility for the accident in which they were injured.
In wrongful death cases, a decedent’s liability is considered when calculating damages.
Let’s say your spouse was recently killed in a fatal St. Louis car accident. Your wrongful death claim is estimated to be worth $2 million. However, your spouse is assigned 25 percent of the blame for the fatal crash. As a result, your wrongful death settlement or jury award will be reduced by 25 percent, leaving you with a maximum recovery of $1.5 million.
Your family member isn’t here to tell their side of the story or correct inaccurate information about the crash. The insurance company will try to take advantage of this and blame your loved one for their untimely death.
Our wrongful death attorneys won’t let these tactics stand between you and the rightful monetary award you deserve. We’ll anticipate these strategies and have a plan in place to protect you. The less fault your loved one shares for their deadly accident, the more compensation your family will be able to recover in a related claim for damages.
What Types of Damages Can Be Awarded in a Wrongful Death Claim?
There’s a big difference between wrongful death cases and other types of personal injury matters. Wrongful death claims are intended to compensate a victim’s surviving heirs, while personal injury claims are designed to compensate injury victims.
So, the types of damges that are generally awarded in St. Louis wrongful death cases are more well defined.
Under Missouri law, plaintiffs in a wrongful death lawsuit can seek economic damages and non-economic damages for:
- Medical bills paid prior to a victim’s death
- Pain and suffering experienced by the victim prior to their death
- Lost wages, income, and benefits the family would have benefited from had the victim survived
- The value of household services and support the victim provided
- Loss of consortium, companionship, instruction, guidance, training, support, and guidance
If the victim was a caretaker and didn’t have a full time job, the family can also seek compensation for the loss of their caretaking services. Missouri law allows families to recover 110 percent of the state’s average weekly wage in these situations.
Who Can Bring a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in St. Louis?
Not just anyone can file a wrongful death lawsuit in the State of Missouri. This right is reserved for parties who had a close familial relationship with the person who died.
This includes, in order of priority, a decedent’s:
- Spouse
- Children
- Parents
- Siblings
- Nieces and nephews
In the absence of any close surviving family members, the personal representative of the victim’s estate or another party appointed by the court can initiate a wrongful death claim.
What is Missouri’s Statute of Limitations for Wrongful Death Lawsuits?
Under Missouri law, you’ll have a limited timeframe in which you can file a wrongful death lawsuit. The controlling statute of limitations in these situations is three years from the date of a person’s death.
So, if your family member survives their injuries for a period of time, the statute of limitations won’t start to run until their death occurs.
You have to file your claim before time runs out if you want to recover compensation from a negligent or otherwise liable party. If you miss the filing deadline, you’ll be left to deal with the financial impact of your devastating loss on your own.
Schedule a Free Consultation With an Experienced St. Louis Wrongful Death Lawyer
You may have suffered an unimaginable loss because someone else was negligent, but you don’t have to navigate this difficult time in your life on your own. Call Roach Law Car Accident Lawyers and discover how our St. Louis wrongful death lawyers can help you fight for the monetary justice you deserve.
Money won’t bring your family member back. However, it can give you a sense of closure and help you secure much-needed compensation that can help for years to come.
Our top-rated legal team has helped families win hundreds of millions in monetary awards. Now, we’re here to invest in you and your future, too.
We offer a free case assessment, so connect with our law office to get started now.
Our personal injury law firm in St. Louis also provides:
- Car accident lawyers in St. Louis, MO
- Bicycle accident attorneys in St. Louis, MO
- Brain injury attorneys in St. Louis, MO
- Catastrophic injury lawyer in St. Louis, MO
- Wrongful death lawyers in St. Louis, MO
- Motorcycle accident lawyer in St. Louis, MO
- Truck accident lawyers in St. Louis, MO
- Pedestrian accident attorneys in St. Louis, MO
- Workers’ compensation lawyers in St. Louis, MO
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