Spring Hill Wrongful Death Lawyer

Losing a loved one is never easy, but when their death is caused by someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing, the grief is compounded by a sense of injustice. In these trying times, you need a compassionate and experienced Spring Hill wrongful death lawyer who can help you navigate the legal complexities and fight for the compensation you and your family deserve.

At LMD Injury Lawyers, we understand the profound impact of wrongful death on your family, and we are committed to providing you with the support, guidance, and fierce legal representation necessary to hold the responsible parties accountable.

If you lost a loved one due to an accident caused by someone else’s carelessness or recklessness, a personal injury attorney from our team can help you seek justice and compensation for your losses.

Our compassionate personal injury attorneys have helped many people like you. We cannot fill the emotional or personal holes left by the loss of your loved one. However, the loss of your loved one’s income can leave huge financial gaps in your family’s budget. By pursuing a wrongful death claim for you, we can win your family justice by forcing the at-fault party to pay for the income and benefits your loved one would have provided over the life they might have led but for the accident.

We know you’re grieving, but call us before evidence disappears and legal deadlines pass so that we can recover everything your family deserves.

Florida law defines wrongful death as a death that occurs due to “the wrongful act, negligence, default, or breach of contract or warranty of any person, including those occurring on navigable waters, and the event would have entitled the person injured to maintain an action and recover damages if death had not ensued, the person or watercraft that would have been liable in damages if death had not ensued.”

There are several circumstances in which a wrongful death can occur in Spring Hill, including:

• Motor vehicle accidents: There are several dangerous intersections in and around Spring Hill, including the intersection of Linden and Coronado, where neighbors say there are many accidents related to high speed and stoplight running. More than 2,400 car accidents occur in Hernando County each year, resulting in more than two dozen deaths. These deaths involve the occupants of cars, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians.
• Premises liability issues: The owners or possessors of commercial, public, and residential properties in Spring Hill are responsible for regularly inspecting their property in search of hazards that can cause injuries to guests. If they find hazards, they must promptly mitigate them and warn guests of the danger if they cannot immediately repair or remedy the issue. Common types of premises liability issues that can cause the death of a visitor include slip and fall accidents, swimming pool accidents, fires, amusement park accidents, negligent security, and animal attacks.
• Defective foods, medications, and products: Manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that the products, foods, and medications they make available for consumers are reasonably safe when used according to labeled instructions. Three product defects, including defective designs, manufacturing defects, and labeling defects, can lead to death and result in a wrongful death product liability claim. Some common defective products in these claims include dangerous food
  items, medications, children’s clothing and toys, automotive parts, and appliances.
• Nursing home negligence. Spring Hill contains more than a dozen nursing homes, with many more in the surrounding area. Nursing homes that receive funding through Medicare/Medicaid are subject to annual inspections and even fines for failing to protect their elderly and vulnerable residents from becoming injured due to abuse or neglect. Unfortunately, understaffing is a common issue in nursing facilities. It can lead to errors and the inability of staff to provide the care that residents are entitled to receive through federal and state nursing
  home laws.

While money cannot bring back what a family loses when a wrongful death occurs, it can help the family regain secure financial footing and address their emotional impacts. Family members in Florida who have lost a loved one can seek compensation for their loss’s financial and psychological effects through the wrongful death claims process.

The wrongful death claims process often begins when the family seeks the assistance of an experienced Spring Hill lawyer. An injury attorney can analyze the details of the accident that resulted in death and help the surviving family members determine liability for that accident and available insurance resources that can provide compensation.

According to Florida’s wrongful death law, family members cannot file a claim themselves. Instead, the executor of the deceased person’s estate can file the claim on behalf of the deceased’s beneficiaries.

The claim is initially filed with the provider of a liability insurance policy held by the at-fault party.

For example, you would file a claim against the at-fault driver’s auto liability insurance policy if the death occurred due to a car accident. In the case of medical malpractice, you’d make a claim against the medical provider and/or healthcare facility’s insurance company.

If a premises liability issue caused the accident, you would file a claim against the at-fault party’s homeowners, renters, or business liability insurance.

If the accident involved the negligence of a government employee or staff, you would file a claim against that agency or its insurance provider.

When the insurance provider receives the claim, they can opt to either pay it, deny it, or offer a settlement for less than the value of the claim. If they fail to pay the claim or make a fair settlement offer, you would file a wrongful death lawsuit.

Many individuals feel that the easiest way to obtain compensation for their injuries is through their personal injury protection (PIP) policy. In Florida, drivers must purchase a PIP policy of at least $10,000 to provide partial coverage of medical expenses and wage loss after an accident, regardless of fault. This coverage extends to members of the driver’s household.

PIP policies in Florida also provide a $5,000 death benefit for family members of a deceased person named on the policy.

While the PIP death benefit is certainly an option for seeking compensation, wrongful death claimants can file a lawsuit in addition to the PIP benefit to pursue an expanded list of items for which they can obtain compensation, such as the non-economic impacts of the loss.

While those who are injured can only use the personal injury claims process to seek compensation for their injury if the injury meets the state’s serious injury definition, this is not an issue for wrongful death claimants, as death meets the threshold.

A lawyer can provide several services to help the family members obtain needed compensation after losing a loved one due to negligence.

In addition to determining liability and insurance resources, an attorney can:

• Develop a value to the claim based on available insurance resources, the expenses the family members or the estate incurred due to the loss, and the psychological impacts of the loss.
• Manage communication with the at-fault party’s insurer to negotiate a settlement and protect the claim’s value from being degraded by common insurance company tactics.
• Gather the evidence and witness testimony needed to prove liability and expenses.
• Tell clients how much they deserve, the process for obtaining compensation, and what constitutes a fair settlement offer for the claim. All decisions are the client’s to make. The attorney’s role is to help the client understand the process enough so that they can make decisions that reflect their best interests.
• Managing the claim timelines to preserve the client’s right to use the court system to seek compensation through a lawsuit.
• Preparing the case for trial, including obtaining evidence and witness testimony and preparing evidence exhibits.
• Litigating the claim if you cannot settle before the trial date.
• Collecting the proceeds of a negotiated settlement or court award. Because wrongful death attorneys work on a contingent fee basis, they are not paid for their services until compensation is received. At that point, they obtain a percentage of the award, as agreed upon when the attorney first begins working on the case. The attorney will also help the family by satisfying any liens against the award from hospitals or insurance groups. The remainder of the compensation will be given to the client to provide to the decedent’s beneficiaries.