Losing a loved one is emotionally draining and can take a huge toll on surviving family members. This distress can impact you significantly and hinder your ability to continue daily activities, especially when they die because of someone else’s negligence. Wrongful death is when a family member who would have otherwise had a personal injury claim dies due to an intentional harmful act or negligence.
Wrongful death cases are emotionally draining and extremely complex. However, you can receive financial compensation to cater for your suffering and emotional pain. The best way to determine your next best steps is to contact an experienced wrongful death attorney. Here is some information to help you get started with your case.
What is emotional stress?
Generally, suffering and pain involve the emotional distress and physical pain an individual experiences because of someone else’s actions. Emotional distress or mental anguish is when an individual suffers mentally from various psychological conditions, including depression, anxiety, and depression. Often, it is a major component of a wrongful death or personal injury case.
You can sue for compensation for damages incurred by individuals suffering from emotional stress due to a traumatic loss of a loved one through someone else’s negligence. The compensation awarded to victims depends on each case’s specific circumstances and the emotional trauma each victim experiences.
Other forms of emotional stress include:
- Fear
- Anger
- Humiliation, etc.
When seeking compensation for emotional stress, you need to show that:
- You have ongoing emotional stress
- You have significant emotional stress is
- Your loved one’s wrongful death directly affects your emotional stability
Compensation for your emotional distress in a wrongful death case
Each personal injury case can end up being a wrongful death case, and you should prove various aspects of the case, including negligence, if you want to win. You should prove that the defendant acted negligently and the victim’s death caused your emotional distress.
Additionally, you should act quickly when filing your claim, ensuring you stay within the two-year statute of limitations. There are some exceptions to the stated two-year limit; however, you should be more cautious and get legal counsel as soon as possible.
Most groups of people compensated in a wrongful death case are the spouse and children to help them recover damages for suffering and pain. However, the damages are difficult to measure since there’s no universal measurement standard, and each experience is subjective.
Often, courts will task the jury and ask them to use their best judgment to determine how much compensation to award. The courts may consider various factors to determine the severity of death, potential ongoing circumstances, and the amount of loss suffered.
Conclusion: Wrongful death in New York
New York law’s legal definition for wrongful death is death caused by neglect, a wrongful act, or default where the deceased would have filed for a personal injury lawsuit had they survived. If you live in New York City and someone close to you dies because of someone else’s negligence, you can get legal help by seeking counsel from a trusted New York City wrongful death attorney for emotional damages. Don’t be silent; seek help.
