How Reiner, Slaughter, & Frankel, LLP Can Help With Your Chico Wrongful Death Claim
With over 40 years of experience, Reiner, Slaughter, & Frankel, LLP can offer the tools you need to help guide you through your Chico wrongful death claim, including providing essential insight into the compensation you deserve for the loss of a loved one. We have successfully helped our clients win more than $600 million in compensation and won 98 percent of the cases we have taken to trial: a record that can provide you with a great deal of confidence as we navigate your claim.
We Make Every Case Personal
At Reiner, Slaughter, & Frankel, LLP, we work directly with our neighbors: the people who live and work around us in the Chico area. We feel a deeply personal connection to our local community, and we strive to provide every client with a personalized level of support that makes them feel supported at every step of the claim process. Furthermore, we go after the compensation our clients deserve, including the aggressive pursuit of justice, regardless of the size of their case.
We Know How to Win
We have committed to learning the local area, the challenges faced by wrongful death victims, and what it takes for them to win reasonable compensation following a devastating accident. Dealing with the loss of a loved one can prove incredibly complicated all on its own. At Reiner, Slaughter, & Frankel, LLP, we aim to make the claim process as easy as possible for our clients.
We Make Legal Support Easy and Affordable
At Reiner, Slaughter, & Frankel, LLP, we aim to make legal support as easy and affordable as possible. We start by making our lawyers highly accessible to our clients: we can connect through virtual meetings or over the phone when you cannot come to the office in person for any reason. Then, we accept our clients on a contingent fee basis: you do not have to worry about paying until we win your claim.
Are you ready to start your wrongful death claim after losing a loved one in Chico? Contact Reiner, Slaughter, & Frankel, LLP today to discuss your right to compensation.
Evaluating Potential Compensation in Chico Wrongful Death Claims
After the loss of a loved one, your financial woes may further compound the emotional struggle you have to deal with. Losing a loved one brings with it a lot of unexpected costs, many of which can put a great deal of stress on many households. As a result, discovering what compensation you can obtain through a Chico wrongful death claim can feel incredibly important.
At Reiner, Slaughter, & Frankel, LLP, we cannot guarantee the compensation you will recover for the damages associated with the loss of a loved one. What damages you seek to recover may also depend on how your loved one died and what final expenses you may have had to contend with. However, we can help you look at all the financial damages your family may have sustained due to the loss of your loved one and how you can include those losses as part of a comprehensive wrongful death claim.
Compensation for Your Loved One’s Final Expenses
Sometimes, you may want to include any final expenses your loved one may have faced as part of a wrongful death claim. For example, you might need to include any final medical costs in the claim. However, this can make it possible for your loved one’s medical care providers to place a lien on the settlement, which means that you would have to use the settlement to cover those costs.
Talk to our attorneys about the best method for determining whether you should include compensation for those final medical costs as part of your claim.
Compensation for Funeral and Burial Expenses
Funeral and burial expenses can quickly place a heavy strain on surviving family members. You want to lay your loved one to rest with grace, but you also do not want to break the bank in the process. As part of your wrongful death claim, you can include compensation for the cost of a funeral, funeral procession, casket, burial plot, and key expenses related to laying your loved one to rest. If your family chose cremation for your loved one, you could include those costs in the claim.
Compensation for Services Performed by Your Loved One
Losing the services performed by a loved one for the family can prove extremely costly. Often, the surviving family must arrange to pay someone else to take care of those services.
That may include:
- Caring for children
- Caring for elderly family members
- Taking care of maintenance around the house
- Dealing with vehicle maintenance
- Cleaning the house
- Taking care of transportation for family members
- Cooking
All those services can add up after the loss of a loved one, leaving the surviving family struggling to figure out how to handle many of those essential services. As part of your wrongful death claim, you can include compensation for those losses.
Compensation for Your Loved One’s Income
Many families today walk a financial tightrope. More than 3.3 million people across California live paycheck to paycheck. The loss of one family member’s income can quickly mean financial devastation for the family. As part of a wrongful death claim, you can claim compensation for losing your loved one’s income, which can provide you with the funds you need to provide for the family while you decide what to do next.
Compensation for Loss of Presence/Loss of Consortium
Losing your loved one’s presence in your life can hit harder than any financial loss. When you lose a spouse, you lose their presence, companionship, and connection to you: the partnership you had intended to have for the rest of your life. If you lose a parent, you can lose all the advice your parent would otherwise have provided.
A wrongful death claim that includes compensation for that loss of companionship and support does not replace your lost loved one, but it can provide your family with needed funds to help you rebuild.
Chico Wrongful Death Claims: The Basics
Under California law, in most cases, you have two years after the loss of a loved one to file and move forward with a wrongful death claim.
Who you file that claim against may depend on how your loved one died.
- Traffic accidents claim about 3,500 lives across California every year.
- In California, accidental deaths claim around 18,357 lives every year.
- Firearm injuries claim about 8.5 members of the population out of every 100,000 each year.
- Accidental death ranks as one of the top five causes of death in California each year.
After losing a loved one in Chico, whether they died in a car accident on Lincoln Street or Oro Dam Boulevard or from construction site injuries, a lawyer can provide you with essential insight into your family’s right to compensation. Contact a lawyer as soon as possible to learn more.
Fighting the Insurance Company After the Loss of a Loved One in Chico
Often, after the loss of a loved one due to another party’s negligence, the surviving family will seek compensation through a wrongful death claim. Usually, that wrongful death claim will go through the insurance company covering the liable party: a reckless driver’s auto insurance provider, for example, or a property owner’s insurance.
However, while the insurance company may offer some compensation for the loss of a loved one, it will not necessarily offer the full compensation you deserve.
You may find yourself fighting with an insurance company that does not acknowledge its covered party’s liability for your loved one’s death or an insurance company that pressures you to accept a low settlement offer that does not reflect your family’s needs.
At Reiner, Slaughter, & Frankel, LLP, we have the resources to help you fight the insurance company and increase the odds that you will get the compensation you really deserve.
FAQs About Chico Wrongful Death Cases
Who Has the Right to File a Wrongful Death Claim in Chico After the Loss of a Loved One?
Wrongful death claims often rely on the familial relationship to the deceased. The closest relative to the deceased generally has the first right to file a wrongful death claim. In general, the deceased’s spouse, if he has one, will have the first right to file a wrongful death claim.
If the deceased does not have a spouse, the deceased’s children may have the right to file a claim; and if the deceased has neither spouse nor children, the deceased’s parents may, in some cases, have the right to file a claim.
When closer family members do not exist, the deceased’s estate may have the right to file a wrongful death claim. A lawyer can help surviving family members determine the best course of action and who has the right to file a wrongful death claim.
My Sister and I Disagree About How to Handle a Wrongful Death Claim in Chico After the Death of a Parent. Who Has the Right to Make Those Decisions?
In cases where siblings may have the same right to file a wrongful death claim, you will have to decide between yourselves how you will ultimately handle the claim. While your lawyer can advise about an equitable settlement division or how to manage the claim process, ultimately, the family will have to decide how to distribute funds and handle the claim.
You may want to give a specific person authority to make decisions regarding the claim, or you may want to make joint decisions based on the best interests of all parties.
How Do I Know if I Have the Right to File a Wrongful Death Claim in Chico?
You might have the right to file a wrongful death claim in Chico if someone else’s negligent actions caused the death of a loved one. That includes cases where your loved one may have lingered, often requiring substantial medical treatment, following the accident.
Consider whether your loved one could have filed a personal injury claim if they had lived. If they had the right to file an injury claim but did not have the chance to move forward with that claim, the surviving family may have the right to file a wrongful death claim.
Did You Lose a Loved One in Chico to Another Party’s Negligence?
When another party’s negligent actions lead to the loss of a loved one, you may find yourself at loose ends, wondering what to do next. Filing a wrongful death claim cannot bring your loved one back, but it can help provide your family with the funds you may desperately need to rebuild after that loss.
Contact our personal injury attorney in Chico today at (530) 891-1909 to learn how we can help you proceed with a wrongful death claim.
