Wrongful death

A wrongful-death claim arises when a person is killed by another party’s negligence or recklessness. Under Georgia law, a surviving spouse, children, or parents are generally eligible to bring the claim; a minor may need an adult guardian to file on their behalf. The claim can recover the “full value of the life” of the person who died, along with the medical and funeral costs their estate incurred.

The firm approaches a wrongful-death matter as two connected tasks: proving how the death happened and who is responsible, and documenting the loss the family has suffered. Depending on the facts, that loss can include lost wages and benefits (present and future), lost care and companionship, and the intangible value of the life itself.

Initial consultation is free. Personal injury matters are handled on a contingency basis: you owe no attorney fee unless we recover for you.

Traffic crashes are a leading cause of preventable death. A fatal crash can trace to an impaired or distracted driver, excessive speed, a vehicle defect, or, in a commercial-trucking case, driver fatigue and a carrier’s failure to follow federal safety rules. The firm investigates these deaths the same way it investigates a serious-injury crash, and identifies every party whose conduct contributed. See auto & truck accidents.

When a death results from a misdiagnosis, a surgical error, a medication mistake, or other care that fell below the accepted standard, the family may have both a medical-malpractice claim and a wrongful-death claim. These cases require expert medical testimony to establish what a competent provider would have done and how the failure caused the death. See medical malpractice.

People held in jails and prisons depend entirely on the government for their safety and medical care. When that duty is ignored, and someone dies from untreated illness, unchecked violence, or dangerous conditions, the family can bring a civil-rights claim under Section 1983 alongside a wrongful-death claim. This is a core part of the firm’s work: it secured a $5 million settlement (opens in new tab) for the family of a man who died in state custody, believed to be the largest the State of Georgia has paid for a prisoner’s death, and, in a separate matter, the court sanctioned a state agency for destroying video evidence of a fatal in-custody stabbing. See prison & jail conditions.

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When a foreseeable crime on an unsafe property, an apartment complex, a parking lot, a commercial premises, results in a death, the property owner and manager can be held responsible for failing to take reasonable security precautions. The firm handles the negligent-security and wrongful-death claims together. See negligent security.

Georgia’s wrongful-death statute divides recovery into two parts. The family’s claim recovers the “full value of the life” of the person who died, measured by both the economic value (lost income and services) and the intangible value of living. A separate estate claim recovers the medical and funeral expenses and any conscious pain and suffering the person experienced before death.

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