Minneapolis Wrongful Death Attorney

Article Updated:  March 27, 2024

 

Minneapolis Wrongful Death Attorney

Having recovered over $35,000,000 for injured clients, including in numerous wrongful death cases, I know how difficult these claims can be on you after having lost a loved one.  I also know how difficult these claims can be from a litigation standpoint, because insurance don’t like to pay out any money, let alone big money, and human life is priceless.

I invite you to review the information below on wrongful death claims.  When you are ready to speak with a Minneapolis wrongful death attorney who can help you find answers, and justice, I invite you to call me or submit a contact form for a free consultation.

Do You Need A Minneapolis Wrongful Death Attorney?

A wrongful death can occur for many reasons and regardless of which cause it has resulted from, a wrongful death lawyer can be your best line of defense in the legal proceedings.

The process of dealing with a wrongful death is long, stressful, and filled with nuances that only wrongful death lawyers can navigate efficiently.

If someone you love has been killed and you believe that the death could have been prevented or was negligently caused, you can potentially bring about a wrongful death suit to recover damages for that loss.

This is true in cases where the negligent actions of a hospital, nursing home, careless driver, incompetent employer or an irresponsible company’s products, caused the death.

Cases like these and many more are where a wrongful death attorney in genuinely necessary to help you secure compensation and hold the bad actor responsible.

What Is A Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

Minneapolis wrongful death lawyers specialize in dealing with cases in which a person has been killed due to the actions of a negligent party.

A wrongful death occurs frequently and can be caused by:

◊ Car crashes

◊ Construction site accidents

◊ Trip and falls

◊ Defective products

◊ Plane or train crashes

◊ Negligent care in hospitals or nursing homes

◊ Pedestrian accidents

When a person is injured in an incident like this, they can take action against the negligent party in court.

However, when an individual is killed due to negligence, they cannot bring the action, and instead their surviving family may seek damages on behalf of their estate.

As the surviving family, you can sue for a number of areas of compensation including:

◊ Sorrow

◊ Mental anguish

◊ Loss of companionship

◊ Loss in income from losing a loved one

◊ Medical expenses and treatments the decedent incurred because of their injuries

◊ Funeral expenses

Each case can vary, and if the death of your loved one created more areas of loss, a wrongful death attorney can help make sure you are compensated for those, too.

Who can sue for wrongful death Minnesota?

In the state of Minnesota a wrongful death case can be brought by the surviving family members of the individual who has died.

According to state law, when an injury is caused to a person through the wrongful actions or the omission of an act, by a person or corporation, and the person dies either directly or indirectly by those actions, a viable cause of action exists.

The main rule is that if the actions could have been sued for had the person lived, then they can be sued for by their surviving family if they die.

Like every other state, Minnesota has specific guidelines for who can bring a lawsuit to court for a wrongful death and this is an important starting point.

People who can file a wrongful death suit in Minnesota include:

◊ Surviving spouse

◊ Children

◊ Parents

◊ Grandparents

◊ Siblings

These are generally the only people who can file a wrongful deal claim in Minnesota, and if you are a person outside of this list and want to file a suit, you should contact a Minneapolis wrongful death lawyer to see what your options are.

How Long Do I Have To Sue For Wrongful Death In Minneapolis

Courts in Minneapolis are strict on how long you have to file a wrongful death claim, and you are not given an unlimited amount of time to make this decision.

In Minnesota, you must file a claim within 3 years of the person’s death and unless you have a very rare exception to exceed this statute of limitations, you cannot bring a wrongful death claim after the time limit expires.

If you do have some extenuating circumstances, you may have as long as 6 years to file a wrongful death claim, but it is not recommended that anyone wait this long to do so.

If you attempt to file a claim outside of this time period, the court will most likely refuse to hear your case.

Some exceptions to these rules are:

◊ Medical malpractice: You have 3 years to file after the death but are given up to 4 years after the date on which the medical error that killed the decedent was made.

◊ Murder: No statute of limitation exists on murder cases

Minneapolis Wrongful Death Attorneys Understand Local Laws

Trying to navigate the Minneapolis legal statutes on your own is a stressful process that can run into many hiccups.

A wrongful death lawyer in Minnesota can help you cut through roadblocks and make sure that your case moves as efficiently as possible through the resolution process.

Minnesota statutes like Section 573.02 may seem easy to understand on the surface, but it, and all other Minnesota laws, are complicated and difficult to use correctly in actual court filings.  This is especially due to common law court opinions which add more depth to those statutes.

Minnesota law states that wrongful death is any death that happened as a result of an act, or the failure to act, on the part of another entity and allows for civil and criminal charges to be brought to court.

When brought to court, the goal is to assign and prove liability for the action or accident that caused the death, and then secure compensation for the surviving family members for their losses related to that death.

Proving this in court is a tedious task and requires crafty discovery, expert witness testimony, and often a variety of damages experts.

Potential Causes of Wrongful Death Minneapolis

Wrongful deaths can take place in many situations, but some situations are more common than others.

In Minneapolis, the most common causes of wrongful death are:

◊ Car accidents: Caused by drunk drivers, drivers under the influence, reckless driving, speeding, failure to follow road rules and signs, driving while drowsy/ sleepy, texting and driving and failing to pay attention to road conditions.

◊ Medical malpractice: Wrong medications given, mistakes in surgery, misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, breach of professional duty of care, incompetence or delayed care are all potential ways in which wrongful death can occur.

◊ Workplace accidents: OSHA has specific rules in place to make sure that workplace conditions are safe. When these rules are not followed and an employee is killed while at work, there can be a wrongful death suit filed.

◊ Unsafe premises: Businesses and individuals have a legal duty to ensure that their premises are safe and when they fail to do this things like animal bites, slip and falls and even accidental drownings can cause a wrongful death situation.

◊ Defective products: Defective products can cause an individual to die and in cases like this the manufacturer can be held accountable. Defective products can include things like airbags, seat belts, contraceptive devices or any equipment that through defect causes someone their life.

Survival Actions In Minnesota

One thing a Minneapolis wrongful death attorney can help you navigate is the confusing laws regarding survival actions versus wrongful death actions.

Survival actions are oftentimes lumped together with wrongful death claims.  A survival action is a type of personal injury claim that you could have made on behalf of a person who has passed away, had they survived.

Survival actions can include the pain and suffering that the deceased experienced.  These actions can also include lost wages hat were experienced until death.

When and how survival actions can be brought will depend on how much time has passed since the death when discussing the loss of wages, but is not related to conscious pain and suffering.

These additional actions can ensure that the pain and suffering that the decedent felt, their fear, the apprehension of death they had, and the length of time that they suffered are also compensated for as it was a highly traumatic experience for them.

How Can A Minneapolis wrongful death lawyer Prove Your Case?

If you believe you have a strong case for a wrongful death filing the next logical step is to prove this belief in court.

Bu how do you prove wrongful death?

While there is no absolute sequence of steps everyone will uniformly take, some steps you can expect are:

◊ Show that someone has died through the use of death certificates, medical records, police reports, etc.

◊ Show that someone else was negligent and this caused the death

◊ Surviving family of the deceased are suffering damages because of this death, i.e. emotional or financial difficulties because the person they relied on for help is no longer there to help.

◊ A representative has been appointed as the head of the estate to file the wrongful death suit in court

Proving these four elements is imperative in having a successful wrongful death case in Minneapolis.

You Need a Minneapolis Wrongful Death Lawyer Who Understands Pecuniary Losses

Another unique aspect of the Minneapolis laws, in addition to the survival actions, are the pecuniary losses rules.

Pecuniary loss refers to financial injuries that are damages which are incurred because of the loss of the family member who is deceased.

With the loss of this individual, the remaining family members lose their financial support, loss of services, or even their future inheritance.

The people who survive the individual who has passed are left with medical bills, hospital invoices, and funeral costs, in addition to being denied the financial support that they had before the death.

This surviving family is therefore entitled to obtain compensation for all damages that are associated with pecuniary loss.

An experienced wrongful death attorney can help to ensure that the calculations that aim to assess the total income the deceased would have made in the rest of their lifetime is correct and adjusted to take into consideration their young children as well.

Having A Minneapolis Wrongful Death Attorney Increases Payouts

Having a Minneapolis wrongful death attorney can mean the difference between a small payout and one that helps you adequately deal with the loss of support left by losing a family member.

With the support of the right Minneapolis wrongful death attorney you can ensure you get the settlement that you deserve.  Here are some truly atrocious wrongful death settlements, where the case settled for nominal amounts, something you want to avoid:

“67-year old man dies in nursing home due to negligent actions of nurses on duty”

$200,000 (Minnesota). An elderly man in a nursing home was left in a scalding hot bathtub which led to his death. The surviving spouse brought a wrongful death case against the nursing home and with the help of an attorney was able to secure an adequate payment to pay for medical expenses, the funeral, and recover some lost potential wages.

“Poorly trained staff at a retirement home directly cause the death of a 77-year old female resident”

$175,000 (Minnesota). Poorly trained staff in a nursing home failed to move a patient frequently after her surgery which led to lesions on her skin becoming infected.  The result of their negligence was a serious infection that led to sepsis and ultimately the death of the female resident of the nursing home. Her surviving children filed a wrongful death claim against the nursing home, its management and the staff to recover damages for the death of their mother while she was in their care.

“83-year old male resident of a long-term care facility suffered dehydration and ultimately died from neglect”

$195,000 (Minnesota). A male resident of a long-term care facility passed away after being neglected and suffering from dehydration and poor intake of medication. The actions of the facility directly led to the death of the resident and his family brought a wrongful death suit against the facility stating that they had breached their duty to care and acted in a negligent manner.

Finding The Right Wrongful Death Attorney In Minneapolis

A wrongful death attorney will evaluate all the facts surrounding your case and help you decide what the best course of action to take is.  Not all cases move forward in the same way and not all cases should be filed in the same manner.

A wrongful death attorney in Minneapolis can use their experience and their understanding of local and state laws to help you understand the best way to maximize success in your own case.

It can be overwhelming to find the wrongful death attorney that best meets your needs, and while there are many options in your state, they do not all have the same level of competency and capability to get you results.

The best way to find the right attorney for you is to have a free consultation with a Minneapolis wrongful death lawyer and see if they can offer you the answers you are looking for, and if they have the temperament to work with you through such a long case.

If You Need A Minneapolis Wrongful Death Attorney Contact Us

You should not have to deal with a wrongful death case alone.  A wrongful death attorney can help take the burden and responsibility of proving liability off you and take it onto their shoulders, letting you focus on grieving and rebuilding your life.

I encourage you to contact me for a FREE consultation (via the contact form below or email) and see if a lawsuit will get you the justice you deserve.

Warmly,

Reza Davani, Esq.
State Bar No.:     1212110211
Federal Bar No.: 30168

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Minneapolis Wrongful Death Lawyer

I can help you anywhere in Maryland, including Allegany County, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Calvert County, Caroline County, Cecil County, Charles County, Dorchester County, Frederick County, Garrett County, Harford County, Howard County, Kent County, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Queen Anne’s County, Somerset County, St. Mary’s County, Talbot County, Washington County, Wicomico County, and Worcester County.

I have helped clients in over a dozen jurisdictions, including on the east coast, west coast, and throughout America.

I help injured victims nationwide in all 50 states on a case-by-case basis via Pro Hac Vice.