Wrongful death of a child is contrary to the natural order of things, it defies understanding. We are supposed to outlive our children, not vice versa.
In developing the extent of loss in a child death case it is important to:
- Gather all the health records from birth of the child.
- Gather all school records and employment records, if any.
- Put together whatever documentation exists as to the child’s activities.
- Gather photographs and videos of the child.
- Put together vignettes of the child that will provide powerful images of what the child was like. Spend time with the family and get an understanding of what the extent of the loss is. These vignettes may be humorous. A mother’s tears when she looks at her son’s little league uniform may be a reminder of the time when her son ran the wrong way on the base path-in retrospect both a humorous episode and a tearful episode.
The death of an adult child may not be as compelling as that of the death of a younger child but the loss to the parent may be every bit as compelling. The parent has lost not only a child but also a friend.
The defense may argue that the death of an infant is worth less than that of an older child. Describe the parent’s plans for the child, their excitement at birth, photos of the pregnancy, pictures of the baby shower and even the baby announcement. All of those are powerful visual images.
For more information on wrongful death see the other pages within this site on that issue.
If you have suffered the loss of a child contact us
