According to the Ohio Rev. Code § 2125.01 (2021), the state defines wrongful death as “one that is caused by the ‘wrongful act, neglect, or default’ of another that would have entitled the person to file a personal injury lawsuit if he or she had survived.”
Wrongful death claims in the state of Ohio must be filed by someone who is a representative of the person who died or someone who suffers damages due to that person’s death.
Eligible parties usually include:
- Immediate family (spouse or children)
- Life partners
- Financial dependents or parties who suffer financially
- Distant family (parents, grandparents, siblings)
If you consider yourself an eligible party, you can file a wrongful death claim against an individual, business, distributor, installer, designer, builder, government agent, property owner, or perpetrator of a crime.
What Constitutes a Wrongful Death?
Wrongful death claims may arise from all sorts of situations, accidents, and malicious actions.
Some examples of wrongful death claims include:
- Car accidents caused by negligence or recklessness:
- Distracted driver collides with another car or pedestrian
- Drunk driver veers into oncoming traffic and causes a collision
- Speeding driver does not see a pedestrian in the crosswalk and strikes them
Medical malpractice:
- Misdiagnosing a patient’s cancer
- A delayed c-section causes harm to the infant
- A surgeon leaves a surgical tool inside a patient
- A doctor prescribes a medication that is contraindicated for the patient
- The medical injury led to specific damages, such as physical pain or mental anguish
Intentional acts, including crimes:
- Fraud
- Misrepresentation or defamation
- False imprisonment
- Assault and battery (depending upon laws of the jurisdiction)
Simply put, wrongful death occurs due to the fault of someone other than the person who died. Generally, a wrongful death occurs when someone is negligent or reckless and causes someone else’s death.
Get in Touch With a Wrongful Death Attorney in Ohio
Dealing with the loss of a loved one is difficult enough. If you believe their death was due to the negligence of another party, then you should get in touch with Mike Warren.
When a wrongful death lawsuit succeeds, the court will order the defendant to pay damages to the deceased person’s survivors or estate.
In the state of Ohio, a wrongful death claim may seek damages for the following:
- Loss of the deceased person’s services
- Mental anguish suffered by the surviving family
- Loss of support, due to the deceased person’s earning capacity
- Loss of the decedent’s care, companionship, guidance, etc
- Loss of inheritance for the spouse or children might have received if they had lived
Hypothetically, in a successful Ohio wrongful death lawsuit, it will typically be awarded to the surviving spouse, children, or parents, as the law presumes that they have suffered losses.
Get in touch with our wrongful death attorney at Warren Law Firm in Chillicothe today!
