Wrongful Death Crash
Brien Roche
Wrongful Death Crash in Maryland
On May 10, 2020 a 37 year-old man died from an auto crash. This wrongful death crash occurred on Brandywine Road near Tower Road in Brandywine, MD. The victim was Nicholas Howard Moore of Brandywine according to a Washington Post report.
Mr. Moore was driving a pickup truck south on Brandywine Road. His truck went off the road. It hit a pillar in front of a building. It then overturned. As a result Mr. Moore was pronounced dead at the scene.
Wrongful death claims vary dramatically from state to state. So it is the state where the injury occurred that governs the nature of the claim.
In a separate and unrelated crash, David J. Remondini died from a crash that occurred on April 13, 2020. That auto crash occurred near Layhill Road and Baughman Drive. That is in the Colesville, MD area. This is reported by the Montgomery County Police in The Washington Post.
Mr. Remondini was driving north on Layhill Road. He was rear-ended by another vehicle. Both vehicles crossed the middle lane. Mr. Remondini’s vehicle then crashed into a pole. As a result he died on May 7, 2020.
Wrongful Death Crash-Damages Are Economic or Non-Economic
Every state has its own wrongful death act. The damages recoverable may be economic or non economic. The economic damages are the loss of income and the value of the loss of services from the passing of the decedent. The non economic damages are the solace and grief of the survivors. Also there may also be medical expenses incurred by the decedent in the last illness and the funeral expenses.
Theories of recovery
Wrongful death can result from:
Wrongful death survivors may receive substantial benefits. Those benefits need to be defined and pursued. Call, or contact us for a free consult.
Wrongful Death Lawyer Who Will Prove Damages
Wrongful death damages need to be brought to life. In other words to grasp the extent of one’s loss it is sometimes said that you need to look for the “violin”. To get the extent of loss suffered by a person who has lost an arm you need to know if that person was a violin player. So picture that loss. You need to look for the violin.
There are several other factors the wrongful death lawyer must look at:
No Delay
- These claims should be brought to trial as quickly as possible. The survivors change. They adjust. They move on to new relationships. As a result the case needs to be presented to a jury before that happens.
Life Expectancy
- The decedent’s life expectancy and work life expectancy have to be proven. Consequently the medical history of the decedent and the medical history of the beneficiaries need to be looked at.
Wrongful Death Crash-Losses
- What is the economic loss suffered by the survivor? This is seen in the loss of earnings and in the value of the services the decedent performed for the family. The loss of those earnings is calculated based on a gross value. Therefore there is no deduction for consumption, taxes, etc. Rather it is the gross earnings that the court is to look at. Hoge Administrator v. Anderson, 200 Va. 364 (1958); Dailey’s Administrator v. Baker, 18 Va. Cir. 469 (1990); Norfolk Southern v. Rayburn, 213 Va. 812 (1973) A claim for loss of services is for the tasks performed by the decedent. As a result someone else now has to perform those tasks. The reasonable cost of replacing those services can be computed. For instance, what does it cost to replace the services of a stay at home parent?
- To portray the extent of grief and bereavement paint a picture of the decedent’s home. Show the decedent’s life through pictures. In addition visit the decedent’s gravesite. How far does the family have to travel to visit.
- The use of a grief expert may help the jury feel what the survivors have gone through. Also it will help portray what they will go through in the future.
- The grief expert may want to give the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Also this will help to gauge the degree of each survivor’s emotional damage.
- The pain and suffering of the decedent may be relevant to show the grief of those left behind.
Survival Claim
- Did the decedent have any conscious pain and suffering before death.
- Is there a survival claim? This is the personal injury claim that the decedent had before death. An autopsy will show not only how death occurred but also when it occurred. Also it may show what the decedent experienced up to the time of death.
Resources
- Also some books that may help with these ideas are Motherless Daughters, The Legacy of Loss by Hope Adelman and The Loss That is Forever; The Lifelong Impact of Early Death of a Mother or Father by Maxine Harris.
Hedonic
- Also another element of damage is what is called hedonic damages. This the loss of enjoyment of life. This may require expert testimony through a psychologist and economist. Evidence of how certain federal agencies evaluate human life can be seen in the fact that seatbelts save 1 person in 10,000 yet the cost of these seatbelts is dramatic. That cost figure may be evidence of the value of one life. Also OSHA has placed a value of $2 million on an unknown American. This is used to explain their willingness to require safety devices in the work environment.
Call, or contact us for a free consult. Also for more info on this issue see the Wikipedia pages. Also see the post on this site dealing with wrongful death issues.