Many different kinds of major accidents, which have claimed thousands of lives, have happened in the past, leaving many families grieving over the loss of their loved ones besides causing them other kinds of hardships, such as emotional and financial burdens.

Acting and behaving in ways that will never put another person at risk of injury or serious harm should be everyone’s conscious thought; this manner of acting and behaving need not be commanded by law, but since many rather choose to act negligently or recklessly, laws need to be passed and strictly enforced to keep law-abiding persons from the harmful behavior of non-caring individuals.

Negligence is the basis of most personal injury cases or lawsuits, which are filed by injured victims for the purpose of seeking compensation from the liable party for the harm that his or her wrongful conduct has caused. It can be committed by anyone and anywhere, with actions most often resulting to different kinds of injury-causing accidents, such as slip and fall, job-related accidents, cruise ship accident, plane accident, dental or medical malpractice, exposure to hazardous substances or conditions in the workplace, and motor vehicles accidents (wherein those involved may include cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles or pedestrians).

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), car accidents, in particular, number to more than five million in the US every year. These accidents, which result from drunk-driving or driving under the influence (DUI), reckless driving, overspeeding, distracted driving, road and highway defects, and defectively designed car or car parts, injure more than two million and kill more than 30,000 people. While disability, as one of car accidents’ results, is already a very serious case, wrongful death is still their worst consequence.

An Indianapolis car accident attorney might define wrongful death as the loss of a person’s life due to another individual’s negligence or willful misconduct. Due to this loss, the surviving family members and/or dependents (known legally as “real parties in interest”) of the deceased victim can file a special kind of personal injury lawsuit, called a wrongful death claim, for the purpose of pursuing justice, usually through compensation for all the pecuniary or financial damages they will be made to undergo due to the victim’s death.

A wrongful death lawsuit may be filed by the family’s/dependent’s representative, while the damages that may be considered compensable may include loss of financial support due to the victim’s death, medical and funeral expenses, lost prospect of inheritance, financial worth of all the goods and services that the deceased victim would have provided his/her family, loss of consortium and the family’s pains, suffering, and mental anguish.

There are important things that the family members and dependents of the deceased should know regarding all legal matters related to filing a lawsuit, such as their state’s specific laws on wrongful death claims, damages covered, the statutory (time) limit for the filing of the lawsuit, and the requirements for one to be recognized as “real party in interest.” These are matters that the surviving family may want to entrust to a highly-qualified personal injury lawyer, who may just be able to provide the necessary legal assistance that the family actually needs.