If you have tragically lost a loved one in a fatal accident, filing a wrongful death claim could help provide closure for your family. Filing a wrongful death claim provides an opportunity to hold the at-fault party accountable, and it helps ensure that your family will have the financial resources needed for the future. It costs nothing to speak with a Birmingham wrongful death lawyer about your family’s legal rights, and if your family has a wrongful death claim, you can hire a lawyer to seek justice on your family’s behalf at no out-of-pocket cost.

But, what if your loved one was partially at fault in the accident?

While at-fault parties can be held financially responsible for the consequences of their mistakes, when victims are partially at fault for their injuries, this does impact families’ legal rights. As a result, it is critical to ensure that you are making informed decisions. This starts with talking to an experienced Birmingham wrongful death lawyer who can help you understand what really happened and who is to blame.

How Partial Fault Impacts Families’ Legal Rights in Alabama Wrongful Death Cases

Different states have different laws regarding the implications of partial fault in wrongful death cases. Unfortunately, Alabama has one of the least favorable laws in the country for surviving family members. While some states’ laws allow surviving family members to seek compensation when their loved one was partially at fault, in Alabama, even being 1% at fault is enough to preclude any financial recovery.

As you might expect, this means that the insurance companies routinely try to blame victims for their own fatal injuries.

Given this, it is critical not to make any assumptions about what happened or why. If you lost a spouse, child, or another loved one in a fatal accident in Alabama, you need to hire a Birmingham wrongful death lawyer who can thoroughly investigate the accident and all of its potential causes. While the insurance companies will investigate, they will do so with their best interests in mind. You need a lawyer who will investigate with your best interests in mind—and who will provide an honest, unbiased, and straightforward assessment of your family’s legal rights.

Protecting Your Family’s Legal Rights After a Fatal Accident in Alabama

To make sure the insurance companies do not take advantage of your family in your time of grief, you need to be proactive about protecting your family’s legal rights. If you lost a loved one in a fatal accident and suspect that he or she may have been partially at fault, you should:

1. Avoid Making Any Assumptions About What Happened and Why

First and foremost, you should avoid making any assumptions about why the accident happened. Numerous factors can cause fatal accidents, and determining the cause of your loved one’s death will require a comprehensive investigation. If you assume that your loved one was partially at fault when this isn’t actually the case, you will lose the opportunity to seek the justice your family deserves.

2. Hire a Lawyer to Conduct a Comprehensive Investigation

Given the importance of accurately determining the cause of your loved one’s fatal accident, you should hire an experienced Birmingham wrongful death lawyer to conduct a comprehensive investigation right away. Along with gathering forensic evidence at the scene of the accident, this may also involve obtaining phone records, security or traffic camera footage, and other forms of evidence.

After investigating the accident, your family’s lawyer will be able to examine all of the evidence under Alabama law. This, in turn, will allow your family’s lawyer to accurately assess whether your family has grounds to pursue a claim for liability.

3. Make Sure You Don’t Let the Insurance Companies Take Advantage of You

As you move forward, you will need to be very careful to make sure the insurance companies don’t take advantage of you. Even in this scenario, the insurance companies will still be doing everything they can to avoid paying for your family’s loss. To ensure that you don’t say the wrong thing or give up on your family’s claim too soon, we strongly recommend having your family’s lawyer communicate with the insurance companies on your behalf.  

4. Work with Your Family’s Lawyer to Make Informed Decisions

In addition to conducting a comprehensive investigation and dealing with the insurance companies on your behalf, your family’s lawyer can also help you make informed decisions throughout the process. This includes (but is not limited to) making informed decisions about things like:

  • Should your family file a wrongful death claim?
  • If so, whose (or what company’s) insurance company deserves to be held accountable?
  • How much should you seek for your family’s out-of-pocket losses?
  • How much should you seek for the non-financial costs of your loved one’s untimely death?
  • When does it make sense to consider settling your family’s wrongful death claim?

These are all critical questions that you will need to answer carefully and with a clear understanding of your family’s legal rights.

5. Rely on Your Family’s Lawyer to Fight for Accountability (if Warranted)

Finally, if your family has a wrongful death claim, you should rely on your family’s lawyer to fight for accountability on your family’s behalf. This is not something that you should try to handle on your own. An experienced Birmingham wrongful death lawyer will know what it takes to assert your family’s legal rights effectively—and will be able to pursue your family’s claim while you focus on being with your loved ones.

Schedule a Free Consultation with an Experienced Birmingham Wrongful Death Lawyer Today

If you need to know more about filing a wrongful death claim after an accident in which your loved one may have been partially at fault, we strongly encourage you to contact us right away. To speak with an experienced Birmingham wrongful death lawyer about your family’s legal rights as soon as possible, please call 205-855-2745 or get in touch online today.