Wrongful Death – Claiming Rights and Emotional Damages

Even though wrongful death is amongst the most tragic consequences of any accident, there are a lot of things that have to be discussed in order to provide clarity over the matter. The Fifth Part of the Family Law Act of Ontario stipulates that in case death or injury resulted from neglect of a third party, the directly related blood relatives are entitled to seek monetary compensation.

Interestingly enough, there are quite a few damages that are actionable upon. We have the regular physical damages that the relatives could file for. These are proven with regular documents such as medical bills and pharmaceutical receipts. However, what pose more interest to the legal authorities are the emotional damages.

Now, the act clearly states that the successors of the deceased can’t file for emotional trauma on behalf of the deceased himself. The solution is incredibly spot-on. No one is capable of determining the emotional turmoil, let alone the magnitude of the pain and suffering that the party has had to go through prior to his death. That’s why the law forbids claiming damages of the kind. However, the relatives are capable of filing a claim for their own emotional turmoil. This is an incredibly common claim and it is almost always going to get acted upon by the court as the circumstances are always the same – the relative claims that he’s sustaining severe emotional damage as per the loss of the loved one.

Furthermore, the relatives of the deceased are also able and fully entitled to claim for loss of income, guidance and companionship. The first hypothesis is incredibly interesting. The relative has to be able to prove the amount of income that the deceased brought home. He would afterwards be able to claim a portion of that amount as compensation. The truth is that this particular solution is rather fair. It provides considerable amount of protection for those who have been strongly dependent on the deceased and they won’t be capable of sustaining a proper lifestyle in the event of his death. That’s why the legislation sets forth regulations of the kind in order to provide clear and concise rules for these particular events. The solution is very spot-on.

In any case, there are quite a few claims that could be filed upon the negligent party and this is the way it’s supposed to be. Even though the main premise is negligence, there are certain situations in which the negligence might border criminal intent in which cases the prosecution would have to step into the case in order to seek incrimination and severe punishment of the perpetrator.

These are just a few of the scenarios where having professional legal support and assistance can make all the difference. You might want to hire a lawyer to represent your case as well to ensure complete success in getting maximum compensation.