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Long Island Wrongful Death Lawyers

At The Harrison Law Group, P.C., Our Experienced And Knowledgeable Long Island Wrongful Death Attorney Team Helps Families Who Have Lost A Loved One In New York Due To Someone Else’s Negligence. With Offices In Melville And Elmhurst, We Protect The Rights Of Long Island Residents By Seeking Appropriate Compensation Following Accidents Caused By The Carelessness Of Others. We Understand You Want And Need To Be Heard. We Serve As Your Voice And Expression.

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OVER $450 MILLION IN SETTLEMENTS RECOVERED.

Long Island Wrongful Death Lawyers | The Harrison Law Group, P.C.

Our Compassionate Wrongful Death Attorneys Fight for Families Who Seek Justice After They Have Lost a Loved One In Suffolk County, Nassau County, and Throughout Long Island

The unexpected death of a loved one is a difficult burden to bear for family and friends left behind. It becomes even heavier if that death could have been avoided. We understand you seek answers and wish to pursue justice for your loved one. If the death of a person could have been avoided because it was caused by the negligence of another person or party, you can file a wrongful death lawsuit with the assistance of an experienced New York wrongful death lawyer from our law firm.

Wrongful death may seem like a strange term — after all, you may think that any death not caused by illness or natural causes would be considered wrongful.  However, wrongful death is a legal term that covers deaths that are not necessarily intentional — specifically, it refers to deaths that were caused by negligence.

There is nothing that anyone can do to relieve the survivors of the emotional burden, but we at the Harrison Law Group can help to ease the financial burden of your loss. That is because we have wrongful death attorneys with over forty combined years of experience who have been helping Long Island residents with their wrongful death cases for over two decades.

Contact a committed New York wrongful death attorney from our firm as soon as you can; we will assess and organize priorities for your case and take care of the legal affairs so you can tend to your family’s other needs during this difficult time.

What is Wrongful Death?

The legal definition of wrongful death is the death of a person due to the reckless, negligent, or even deliberate act of a person or entity. Such a case has four considerations:

  • The Death of a Human Being: An event in which the decedent, your loved one, died
  • Caused By Negligence: The death was caused by a person, group of people, organization, or other entity through negligent, reckless, or intentional actions or omissions
  • Financial Suffering of Survivors: The surviving family of the deceased must demonstrate financial suffering caused by the unexpected death of the deceased
  • Personal Representative: The family must appoint a personal representative of the estate of the deceased

In other words, a wrongful death is when what would have been a personal injury leads to a person’s death instead. A personal injury is caused by the negligence of another person. Some examples include car accidents, slip and fall accidents, medical malpractice, intentional killings, aviation accidents, deaths due to defective products, dog bites, and many others. If any type of personal injury leads to someone’s death, a wrongful death suit can be filed.

A wrongful death claim can also be filed if the victim’s death was due to intentional misconduct. In such cases, the perpetrator may also be facing criminal charges related to the death, but a wrongful death suit is separate and different. One differentiator is that the standard of proof is lower in a wrongful death case than it is in a criminal case. Another difference is that the criminal case is all about punitive measures for the perpetrator, meaning that it is about meting out punishment for the death that they caused.

A wrongful death claim is about seeking monetary remuneration rather than dispensing a prison sentence to the guilty party. In other words, a wrongful death case addresses the economic and non-economic damages caused by the wrongful death.

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Types of Damages in New York Wrongful Death Cases

There are three types of wrongful death damages that can be awarded to survivors of a wrongful death victim: economic damages, non-economic damages, and punitive damages.

Economic Damages

Economic damages mainly involve the potential contributions the victim would have made to the survivors had they lived a full life. Economic damages also include the financial burden the injury and subsequent death of the deceased imposed on the family.

Economic damages associated with a wrongful death claim may consist of the following:

  • Medical and funeral expenses
  • The victim’s expected lifetime earnings
  • The victim’s expected benefits such as pension and medical coverage
  • Loss of inheritance due to the untimely death
  • The value of goods and services the victim would have provided

Funeral and burial costs can combine with medical bills associated with your loved one’s death to place great and unexpected financial strain on your grieving family. If a family member was dependent upon the decedent, this can also create an ongoing financial burden. This is an important reason why immediate family members in New York are able to seek financial compensation when a loved one’s death occurred due to the negligent act of another by pursuing a wrongful death action with the aid of an experienced New York wrongful death attorney.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages fall into two categories, the first of which is called survival actions. These are damages for the pain and suffering the decedent experienced before they died, including the severity of the pain, the duration of the suffering, and other related factors. Survival actions essentially allow the surviving family members to seek damages the deceased person would have been able to pursue in a personal injury claim if they had survived.

New York and some other states go further and can charge the defendants interest on the damages from the time they were incurred and reimbursement on attorney’s fees, as well as other charges incurred.

The second category of non-economic damages pertains to the loss suffered by the survivors of the decedent, which may include:

  • Mental anguish and suffering caused by the wrongful death
  • Loss of care, protection, nurturing, guidance, and advice of the deceased
  • Loss of love and companionship caused by the untimely death
  • Loss of consortium from a deceased spouse (loss of family relationship, ability to have children, and moral support)

Your unique case may include additional non-economic damages, which you should discuss with your attorney.

Punitive Damages

When especially bad conduct is evident in the case of the defendant, punitive damages can also be awarded. They are not often recoverable in the case of government institutions and other protected entities, but some cases such as abuse of elderly people may be punished through treble damages. These punitive damages are paid to the plaintiff.

Determining the Damages in a Wrongful Death Case

A wrongful death case is a civil case, meaning you must prove a “preponderance of the evidence.” You must show that there is better than a 51% chance that the death was wrongful, unlike criminal cases, whose burden of proof must be “beyond any reasonable doubt.”

However, the process of figuring out the damages to award to the dependents of the deceased person can be a significant, somewhat complicated issue. Such matters can require the testimony of expert witnesses, such as economists, for the jury to determine the size of the damages. The damages to be awarded can then be increased or decreased by the court for various reasons.

Many factors account when determining the damages in a wrongful death case, including the following:

  • The Decedent’s Age – The family of a younger person with more earning potential might be able to seek a bigger payout than the family of someone who is closer to retirement age.
  • The Character of the Decedent – If the decedent was someone who spent their money responsibly, then their family will usually receive a bigger damage award than someone who was more irresponsible.
  • The Decedent’s Life Expectancy – The family of someone who was in good health and who took care of themself is likely to be able to seek more than the family of someone who was in poor health or who had a serious medical condition.

As you can see, all of the above factors are related to the earning potential of the decedent; the greater their earning potential, the higher the potential damage award. If the decedent was unemployed at the time of their passing, then the court will consider their last earnings and any potential future earnings if they were to become re-employed. They also consider the circumstances of their dependents, and are more likely to award a larger payout if the decedent was their main source of income than if any of them were financially independent.

The complexity of factors affecting the valuation of damages underscores the importance of hiring an experienced New York wrongful death lawyer to assist you with your case. Our attorneys in Long Island can help you to seek the maximum damage reward towards taking care of anyone who was financially dependent upon the decedent.

Countering The Insurance Company’s Interests in a New York Wrongful Death Case

As you may well know, insurance companies work hard to disprove claims or drive down the potential financial recovery amount as much as possible. Therefore, other factors that may be considered when countering an insurance company’s interests concerning a wrongful death claim may include:

  • How long the victim was aware of their impending death (pre-impact terror)
  • How long the victim suffered
  • Compelling evidence of negligence on the part of the other party
  • The pain and suffering caused to the remaining family
  • Medical and funeral expenses
  • Lost future income, lost comfort, lost future benefits, loss of nurturing, et cetera

While you are probably still processing the tragedy in the aftermath of a fatal accident, you might not initially consider whether you have cause to seek all relevant damages in response to the negligent conduct of the responsible parties. However, wrongful death compensation exists to help cover unexpected medical expenses, funeral costs, and even lost wages and other losses that will affect the deceased’s family in the longer term due to the negligent act.

It is important to take legal action promptly, as statutes of limitations apply in New York wrongful death lawsuits, and these cases require considerable preparation time. While the general statute of limitations for a wrongful death claim in New York is two years from the decedent’s death, numerous factors can complicate it.

We understand this is a difficult time, and our legal team helps people every day who are experiencing similar circumstances following wrongful deaths. We can help by removing some of the burden so you can focus on your family. Your first step is to schedule a free consultation with an experienced New York wrongful death attorney at our law firm. If you have sadly lost a loved one recently in an accident caused by someone else, we encourage you to consult an experienced and resourceful wrongful death lawyer in New York as soon as possible to secure your legal rights.

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Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

Any of the survivors of the decedent (the person who died) can sue, but a wrongful death lawsuit must be filed by a representative on their behalf. That representative is generally the executor of the decedent’s estate. In New York and Long Island, the people on whose behalf the representative can file a suit include the following:

  • The spouse of the decedent
  • The children of the decedent
  • The parents of the decedent

Siblings of the decedent, as well as their extended family, can file a claim if they were named as the personal representative or guardian of the estate.

What Needs to Be Proven in a Wrongful Death Case?

Since a wrongful death case is so closely related to a personal injury case, those close to the deceased must meet the same burden of proof that would have applied had the deceased person lived. That means they must prove that the negligence of someone else was the cause of the incident that led to the person’s death. Therefore, the following conditions must be met:

  • The perpetrator owed the victim a duty of care – This means that the person who caused the death should have been acting in a responsible manner towards the deceased. For example, a doctor has a duty of care to try and find the right diagnosis and treatment options for their patients. A driver has a duty of care to other drivers and pedestrians, which means that they should follow the rules of the road and drive responsibly.
  • The perpetrator breached their duty of care – In the examples above, a breach would mean that the doctor failed to diagnose their patient, or that a driver ignored a stop sign and collided with another car.
  • The breach of duty caused the death of someone else – In the examples given so far, the doctor’s malpractice left their patient’s condition untreated, eventually leading to their death. In the case of the driver, their collision after ignoring the stop sign caused fatal injuries to the driver of the car they ran into.

The exception to these conditions is when a person intentionally kills another, in which case a wrongful death suit can be brought against them in addition to the criminal charges. As stated earlier, the criminal charges are all about punitive action against the guilty party, while the wrongful death suit is about seeking financial compensation for the survivors of the deceased.

Difficulties In Wrongful Death Cases

Unfortunately, even when the cause of death is evident, the defendants will often bring all kinds of counterarguments. Some will be downright gory and disrespectful to the deceased, which is why many with wrongful death claims don’t even bother to pursue financial recovery. That’s what the insurance companies want, isn’t it?

That is why having resourceful and aggressive wrongful death lawyers is critical. Having practiced in the toughest districts — including Suffolk County, Nassau County, Queens County, and throughout the state of NY — the wrongful death lawyers at The Harrison Law Group, P.C., are willing to go the whole distance to fight for you in court. 

Whether you’re a parent, guardian, sibling, child, grandparent, or other direct relatives of the deceased, you may have a right to file a wrongful death case. If not for the financial damages, you may wish to pursue the case for the punitive damages as a means to seek justice for your loved one.

Because the burden of proof in criminal cases is much higher than in a civil case, the parties who caused wrongful death will likely never be convicted of their wrongdoing. Often, the only way to seek some closure and a sense of justice in the matter is to pursue a large award and punitive damages against them.

Let A Qualified Long Island Wrongful Death Lawyer Fight for You

As you can see, handling a wrongful death case in New York is a delicate, yet challenging process. It needs empathy and aggression in equal measure, which is why the wrongful death attorneys at The Harrison Law Group are so good at them.

In addition to our experience, we are committed to offering the plaintiffs in wrongful death cases moral support to help them fight through to the end. These cases often take years to be settled or tried; you need someone on your side you can trust and rely on.

Talk to a qualified New York wrongful death lawyer today by calling our number, (631) 465-9797, and let us walk with you to pursue victory. Remember, the first consultation is completely free.

How An Experienced Long Island Wrongful Death Lawyer At Harrison Law Group Can Help You & Your Family

After the traumatic event of having someone close to you die suddenly and unexpectedly, you do not want to go through the further trauma of struggling financially following your loved one’s passing. 

The Harrison Law Group has highly experienced wrongful death attorneys who will work their hardest to ensure that the surviving family members of the deceased can assuage their worries regarding financial security in the aftermath of a tragic death event. 

Our team of senior attorneys has practiced for over 30 years in the area. Having covered all kinds of wrongful death cases, our lawyer team will draw upon their extensive knowledge and experience to pursue the maximum recovery award available for you. The death of a loved one can bring many unexpected expenses and circumstances of financial uncertainty. We know that no amount of money can alleviate the suffering caused by the passing of someone near and dear to you. However, if you let The Harrison Law Group take care of your wrongful death case, that is one less thing that you need to worry about.

Contact us today for a free consultation regarding your case, and let a dedicated New York wrongful death lawyer from our firm protect your legal rights and interests.

We understand you need to be heard, and we are prepared to listen, guide you, and be your voice — The Harrison Law Group, P.C.

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Why Choose The Harrison Law Group, P.C.?

For over 30 years, The Harrison Law Group, P.C.’s ability, and desire to actively listen to you and deeply understand your experiences has set us apart. We aggressively pursue fair and appropriate compensation for our clients who have been injured in New York.

  • We listen because we care about your recovery and maintain consistent, clear communication to effectively express your voice on your behalf.
  • We relieve the pressure so you can exhale — while we inhale your case details and engage with the insurance company.
  • We’re not casual about your case or your representation; we are intentional and strategic, based on your needs and our experience. 
  • We don’t stop when we’re tired. We stop when the job is done.

You get better. We’ll take care of the rest.

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What is Personal Injury?

If you’re injured as a result of a negligent third party, you may be entitled to compensation due to the damages you’ve experienced — either directly through the responsible party or their insurance company. An experienced New York personal injury lawyer will focus on tort law while seeking economic and non-economic damages for their clients — whether or not the target is a multi-million dollar award.

Personal injuries are classified as injuries to the body, mind, and emotions of an individual. When you suffer an injury because of another party, you experience turmoil, and your quality of life will change. Some victims experience loss of enjoyment of life, and even depression.

It’s important to speak with mindful attorneys who have the wisdom to handle your case effectively. Personal injury suits are filed against individuals or entities that cause harm due to recklessness, negligence, misconduct, or liability.

What Sets Us Apart?

Our attorneys and staff are competent, compassionate, and committed to seeking the maximum fair and appropriate compensation for all of our clients. We fight to win, not to quickly settle and move on to the next case. Our firm will make sure that you are properly advised of all of your options while giving you the proper legal advice to make the right decision for yourself and your family. We are willing to go above and beyond to meet your expectations, whether it’s meeting with you after hours, on the weekends, at your home, in the hospital, or at the office. We will make ourselves available for you 24/7.

Immediate Action

We understand the immediate concerns you will have, which include paying your bills, traveling to and from work and doctors’ appointments, and taking care of your daily responsibilities. We want you to know that here at The Harrison Law Group we understand and can help. We will take immediate action on your case and begin to work as soon as we are retained.

A Commitment to Excellence & Solutions For You

Our reputation is built on a record of attentiveness and diligence in pursuit of our clients’ interests. We fight hard for all of our clients with outstanding creative approaches and individualized solutions in personal injury and accident cases to seek the maximum fair and appropriate compensation. Time after time, The Harrison Law Group, P.C. has taken cases that other attorneys either wanted to drop or would have settled for small amounts, and we turned them into million-dollar cases. We have been dedicated to Personal Injury and helping our clients pursue justice for over 30 years.

Constant Communication

Our office sets itself apart because we do not only return phone calls; we call our clients at least every 30 days to provide a status update on your case — and if there is no update, we call to see how you are doing. Happy clients are informed clients, and we are committed to keeping you informed every step of the way. We are available 24/7 to all of our clients via email, text, or phone to answer questions and give updates. While we have a big firm reputation, we have a small firm dedication to each client.

Types of Personal Injury

Personal injuries can refer to injuries sustained due to dental malpractice, product liability, or assault claims, but they more commonly involve the following types of injuries:

Car Accidents

When your vehicle collides with another vehicle, a pedestrian, an animal, debris, or another stationary obstruction such as a tree, pole, or building, you may face significant injuries and expenses that often include medical treatment and vehicle repairs. Following a car accident that was no fault of your own, it is important to immediately begin working with a New York personal injury lawyer to seek fair and appropriate compensation.

Truck Accidents

Motor vehicle accidents involving a truck or tractor-trailer and caused by the recklessness of others will present additional complex factors that are not present in a regular car accident case. You can be certain that there will be attorneys representing the truck driver, which is why you should partner with a New York personal injury lawyer at our law office immediately.

Motorcycle Accidents

When your motorcycle is involved in a motor vehicle accident at no fault of your own, you will need help in your fight to be fairly compensated in your case. As a client of our law firm, you can be confident that we are bringing the fight to the insurance company.

Premises Liability

An injury from an accident caused by unsafe conditions on someone else’s property often involves a fall on a slippery or uneven surface. Other types of negligence or dangerous circumstances may also lead to an injury or death. In some cases, your accident could amount to a multi-million dollar settlement. Our law office of NY accident attorneys will be happy to guide you through this process as our client.

Dog Bite

Dog owners are generally determined to be liable if their dog hurts you or anyone else. New York personal injury law in this situation provides a means to seek compensation for your medical expenses, your pain and suffering, & much more.

Slip and Fall

A property owner could be liable for damages if you slip, trip, and fall on their property due to their negligence. Working with a qualified New York personal injury lawyer in this situation is important because the Queens, Nassau County, Suffolk County, or Long Island property owner that you file a claim against will certainly be represented by law firms who are trying to dismiss or settle your case for as little as possible.

Construction Accidents

An injury sustained due to working on a construction site can be life-changing or deadly. In many cases, such an injury will prevent your ability to continue working for some duration of time. Workers’ compensation is available for these types of accidents. Depending on the details of your case, you may also be able to file a lawsuit.

Wrongful Death

Death caused by negligence or intentional actions of another party is known as wrongful death. The NY accident attorneys at our law office are experienced in these cases and are ready to help you fight for the money you need.

Medical Malpractice

When you work with a licensed medical professional, you have every right to expect that they will take prudent and cautious steps to help you work towards a successful recovery. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. The New York personal injury attorneys at our law firm are ready to help you fight for fair compensation.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Personal Injury Law

What types of compensation can be received in a personal injury case?

There are several types of compensable damages that can be received including money for lost wages and career change, property damage compensation, health aids, and home rehabilitation to accommodate for the injuries sustained.

What is the difference between a “personal injury claim” and “personal injury lawsuit”?

A personal injury claim is when you or the law firm you have retained and the at fault party’s insurance company try to come up with a settlement to resolve your claim. Most cases generally do settle out of court. If a settlement can not be reached, a law firm will go ahead and commence a personal injury lawsuit, which simply means taking the at fault party to court.

How much is my case worth?

The value of your case depends on multiple factors such as liability, injuries, insurance coverage, venue, medical bills and etc. Here at The Harrison Law Group, P.C., we will evaluate your case and give you the most comprehensive answer as far as what you can expect regarding compensation.

What should you do after a personal injury accident?

Seek medical attention. Take photos of your injuries, defects and property damage. Keep track of everyone you speak with, take the names, phone numbers and addresses of all witnesses, as this will be useful information for when you hire an attorney. Finally, call The Harrison Law Group, P.C. to see how we can help.

What if I am part responsible for the accident?

Even if you are partially responsible for the accident you may still be entitled to compensation and you should not wait and speak to an attorney right away.

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