Virginia Brain Injury Wrongful Death Lawyer
It is tragic when a brain injury someone sustained leads to premature death, especially when medical professionals are the ones at fault. The family is often left wondering what could have been done on the part of the medical professional, and whether their loved one’s death could have been avoided. If your family member died as a result of a brain injury, contact an experienced Virginia brain injury attorney for legal counsel. They will be able to argue for the appropriate compensation.
Common Brain Injuries
Traumatic brain injuries and HIA brain injuries, also known as anoxic brain injuries, often lead to a wrongful death. If a loved one has been injured or unfortunately killed through the negligence of another, it’s important to contact a wrongful death attorney who has experiences with brain injury cases as soon as possible.
Brain injury cases are complex and wrongful death cases are complex. So it makes sense that a wrongful death injury involving a brain injury is especially complex. It’s worth having a brain injury attorney who understands what brain injuries and wrongful death statutes they have in Virginia, as that lawyer can put that knowledge to work for you.
Bringing a Wrongful Death Claim
Wrongful death cases are creatures of statute. What is meant by this is that there is no common law establishing what a wrongful death is, however, the wrongful death statutes in Virginia are very specific about who qualifies to bring an action on behalf of the deceased and over what time period they may bring this to action.
Typically, a person must first qualify as the executor or person representative of the estate of the deceased. Next, they typically have two years from the date of the death or the date of the discovery of the negligence that led to the death.
In Virginia, typically, the statute of limitations is two years. However, there are some instances where the inability or fraud in the process of discovering the negligence may toll that statute of limitations. However, this is very rare.
Burden of Proof
A lawyer must meet the civil burden of proof to show that their client, the estate of the deceased has proven the case. The burden of proof rests on the moving party. In this case, the moving party is the decedent’s estate and the person acting on behalf of the victim. The person standing on behalf of the estate has the burden of proof to show that the wrongful death injury occurred and the other party was responsible.
Information a Client Should Bring
If a loved one has been tragically killed as a result of the negligence of another, you may not have a lot of documentation in your possession. However, you should bring everything with you that you can recall and may be helpful for an attorney to consider at that initial meeting.
This includes all bills and medical records in your possession, any narratives you had handwritten regarding the incident that led to the wrongful death. Names, places, dates and all of those things will be helpful.
Bring as much information as you can. This will readily assist the attorney in developing an investigation strategy.
