The death of a loved one is one of the most difficult and emotionally painful events most of us will ever have to endure. One of the few things that can make it even more painful is knowing that the death was caused by someone else’s carelessness and that it didn’t have to happen.
Atty. Robert Shute has compassionately and successfully represented surviving family members in wrongful death cases. The Massachusetts Wrongful Death statute is one of your legal remedies if you have suffered the loss of a family member. If you are distraught because of this heartbreaking situation, Atty. Shute is available to consult with you personally and confidentially at no cost to you. When Atty. Shute handles your family’s wrongful death case, you never pay a legal fee out-of-pocket. The legal fee is paid only out of the money that Atty. Shute gets for you from the person or company that caused the death, or from their insurance company.
Wrongful Death cases involve not only emotional pain but in many cases such as where a deceased parent earned much of a family’s income, or where the deceased parent’s work at home allowed the other parent to earn income, the death also can put the surviving family out of its home, destroy plans for children to go to college, and put the family in an all-round perilous financial position. As you can imagine, with so much at stake, the insurance company for the responsible party is going to pull out all the stops: blame the victim, hire medical experts to say things like the decedent was going to die soon anyway because of unrelated health issues, or say it is reasonable for a doctor to delay further diagnostic testing even though preliminary tests indicate a deadly but curable disease. Combating these tactics is crucial and having someone knowledgeable to do that for you is just one of the many reasons to have Attorney Shute on your side.
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The Wrongful Death Statute: Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 229 Sec. 2 provides in part that a person whose negligence or whose reckless act causes the death of another shall be liable to pay monetary damages.
Who receives the money in a Wrongful Death case?
Possible recipients in Massachusetts include a parent, surviving spouse, surviving children, grandchildren, etc. or, if none of those survive the decedent, then next-of-kin. Depending upon which of those survive the decedent, the money may be divided among them. Atty. Shute will explain how these rules apply to the specific circumstances of your surviving family members.
Punitive Damages. Wrongful death cases are among the few types of cases in Massachusetts where a jury can award Punitive Damages. In cases where the conduct of the person who caused the death was worse than negligent and was malicious, reckless or grossly negligent a jury can award Punitive Damages to punish the responsible party and to deter them from the conduct in the future.
Wrongful death cases can arise out of many kinds of negligent conduct including cases such as vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle crashes, medical negligence, dog attacks, swimming pool drowning, burns, defective equipment, construction sites lacking proper safety equipment and many others.
When a Wrongful Death claim is started, the first thing to happen is court approval of the appointment of a “Personal Representative” to act on behalf of the Estate of the deceased person. The claim is then made for monetary “damages” to compensate the surviving family members for harms resulting from the negligence. The Wrongful Death Statute calls for payment of damages including for loss of reasonably expected net income, services, care, companionship, assistance, comfort, guidance and advice as a result of the death of the decedent. The legal term for these personal harms is “loss of consortium.”
Attorney Shute can help see you through this difficult time with compassion for your family and with determination for your case. Nothing can truly alleviate the grief that surviving family members feel but adding financial strife on top of grief is not an acceptable outcome when your family member has been wronged and died as a result.
There is a saying when someone dies that “Outsiders may feel closure but grieving families are left to cope.” Atty. Shute is here to relentlessly pursue the Wrongful Death case that will help you and your family cope with your loss.
Atty. Robert Shute is available to consult with you confidentially and without cost to you to explain your options. The consultation can be scheduled at your convenience, before, during or after normal business hours. Call Atty. Shute any time at 413-592-0999 of 413-437-7788.
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Atty. Robert Shute
Atty. Robert Shute is available to consult with you confidentially and without cost to you to explain your options. The consultation can be scheduled at your convenience, before, during or after normal business hours. Call Atty. Shute any time at 413-592-0999 of 413-437-7788.