How Are Wrongful Death Settlements Calculated?

If your loved one died from another person’s negligence, you may be exploring the idea of a wrongful death lawsuit. This legal action could provide you and your family with compensation to help you begin moving forward from this tragic event. But you’re likely wondering how much money you serve to gain from a wrongful death suit and whether it’s worth your time.

Understanding how wrongful death settlements are calculated can help you predict how much your case may be worth. If you landed here by searching for a “wrongful death lawyer near me,” this guide will provide an overview of how to estimate your case value.

Wrongful Death Settlements Seek To Compensate You for Your Loss

Seeking a wrongful death settlement plays two important roles:

• It holds the at-fault party accountable for their negligence, hopefully preventing future injuries and death under their watch.
• It compensates you and your family for the financial and emotional toll your loved one’s death has placed on you.

While no amount of money can bring your loved one back or truly make up for their death, your wrongful death settlement should seek to compensate you and your family adequately. Your attorney will help you calculate a monetary amount that reflects the financial and emotional losses resulting from your loved one’s death.

Calculating the Damages in a Wrongful Death Case

In a wrongful death case, “damages” are the remedy you request from the defendant to make you and your family “whole” in legalese. Damages are usually monetary compensation that reflects your emotional and tangible losses.

When an attorney calculates the damages you will pursue in a wrongful death case, they take compensatory and punitive damages into consideration. Compensatory damages compensate you for the loss, while punitive damages punish the defendant.

Both economic and non-economic damages are a form of compensatory damages.

How Are Economic Damages Calculated?

Economic damages reflect the direct monetary losses you suffered due to your loved one’s death and the accident that caused it. These can include any of the following expenses:

• Medical bills
• Funeral costs
• Loss of income
• Loss of future earning capacity
• Physical damage (such as to a vehicle in a car accident)

Calculating economic damages is as simple as adding up all of your receipts related to the accident. Be sure to keep a copy of all bills and receipts to use toward your wrongful death settlement calculation.

How Do Non-Economic Damages Factor In?

Non-economic damages are a bit harder to quantify. They encompass the emotional toll your loved one’s death has taken on you and your family. They can also help make up for the pain your loved one experienced prior to their death.

You may decide to claim any of the following non-economic damages:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of consortium
• Loss of companionship
• Grief

Because these damages do not have a price tag the same way economic damages do, your attorney can help you equate them to a dollar amount. Judges typically use one of two methods to calculate non-economic damages:

• Multiplier method, which involves multiplying the economic damages by a multiplier between one and five; the multiplier reflects the severity of the case
• Daily rate method, which involves determining a fair daily rate that reflects the impact on your life, then multiplying that rate by the amount of time your loved one’s death will significantly affect your life

Neither of these methods is an exact science, but they can help your attorney come up with a reasonable monetary figure to request as part of your lawsuit.

Are You Eligible for Punitive Damages?

Your family may be eligible for punitive damages if the defendant acted recklessly, causing your loved one’s death. While these damages are rare, they do arise in particularly egregious cases. The judge or jury will decide whether to award punitive damages in your case, and each state sets its own cap on these damages.

Factors Affecting the Value of Wrongful Death Settlements

When calculating the damages above, many factors can affect exactly how much your case is worth. The following are a few prevalent factors impacting wrongful death settlements:

• Age and health of the victim: Settlements are often higher when the victim is young and healthy, indicating that they had a long life ahead of them that was cut short by the accident.
• The victim’s income: If the victim was a high earner, the settlement may be higher to help make up for the family’s loss of income.
• Type of accident: The settlement may vary depending on whether the victim died in a car accident, slip-and-fall incident, medical malpractice event, or another type of accident.
• Circumstances of dependents: A judge may award a higher settlement to a family that is not in a stable financial position after the victim’s death or if the victim had multiple dependents.
• Settlement vs. court judgment: You serve to gain more money if you go through with a court case rather than settling out of court, but doing so also takes more time and usually involves higher legal costs.

How the Victim’s Negligence May Affect Your Settlement

Many states follow a comparative negligence policy that allows multiple parties to share partial liability in an accident. If a judge finds that your loved one was partially responsible for their accident, your settlement may decrease to reflect this.

For example, perhaps your loved one died in a car accident in which they were not wearing a seatbelt. The judge may determine your loved one was 30% responsible for their injuries and subsequent death, meaning your family could only collect 70% of the damages.

Find a Wrongful Death Attorney Near You

Calculating wrongful death settlements is one thing, but securing the maximum amount of compensation is a different story. Working with an experienced wrongful death attorney can increase your chances of gaining adequate compensation to begin moving forward from your loved one’s death.

Do you need help finding a skilled wrongful death attorney near you? Contact Accident Hotline to connect with an experienced attorney from our network and schedule your free consultation.