If you are pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit in the name of a loved one, you are going to need to prevent evidence to prove your case and back-up your claims. Your evidence is going to need to demonstrate three different elements in order for your case to have the highest chance of success. It is important to note that this is not all evidence that you need to provide; your attorney will have legal power to request evidence and will gather the necessary evidence to prove the three points below.
#1 What Exactly Happened
The first thing that your evidence is going to need to prove is what exactly happened to your loved one. If your loved one was involved in an industrial accident, for example, you are going to want video and witness testimony that shows the actions and steps that lead up to the accident as well as the accident and response on the scene.
For example, if there are employees that saw the scaffolding, worked on it, and inspected it over time can be called on to speak to their experience, even if they were not there the day of the accident that took your loved one's life. Or, another reliable witness would be the first responders who were called into the accident scene; their observations at that time can help establish what happened. A witness is not necessarily someone who saw the accident, it can be people who were knowledgeable about, continuing the example, the installation and maintenance surrounding the scaffolding. These witnesses may be employees of the company your loved one worked for, or they may be inspectors that checked out the work site.
Witnesses in wrongful death cases are individuals who are knowledgeable about the equipment your loved on was working on, as well as maintenance of that equipment; they do not have to have actually seen the accident to be able to provide valuable testimony.
With industrial accidents, it is often more about showing the conditions that lead up to the accident, and not just about the actual accident itself. With industrial accidents, there are generally multiple layers of government oversight that are supposed to be in place. Your attorney can request all the documentation that the government oversight should provide; even a lack of evidence in this area can be evidence that the right oversight was not taken to protect your loved one.
#2 Defendants Liability
Second, you need your evidence to show that the defendant is in fact liable for what happened to your loved one.
For example, if your loved one was killed due to an industrial accident that was the result of the company they worked for not following safety guidelines, you would need to show that the company know about the safety guidelines and choose to ignore the guidelines that would have saved your loved on. There is a variety of different types of evidence that could prove this. The observations of other workers on the site could be used to show the right safety precautions were not taken. Or the paperwork and records that the company keeps concerning the equipment may be used to prove that guidelines were not followed. Government inspections of the equipment, or lack of appropriate inspections, could also be used to show liability.
It is important to remember that multiple parties may be held liable for your loved one's death in an industrial accident, including the company your loved one worked for, the company that inspected and maintained the equipment that malfunctioned and any company or organizations that was responsible for inspecting the equipment.
You need to make sure that your evidence either demonstrates that the defendant(s) was negligent or acted in an intentional manner that lead to your loved one's death.
#3 Damages
Finally, you need to prove the damages that you and your family suffered as the result of your loved one's death. This can be proved in a variety of ways. If you accumulated expensive medical bills to treat your loved one, that would be one way of assessing damage. If your loved one provided an income to your home, you can demonstrate the impact of the loss of their income as well as future retirement contributions will have on your family. If your loved one took care of your children, you can demonstrate how this event has impacted your children and your ability to take care of them.
When it comes to proving the damages that your family suffered, try to keep accurate records of the financial impact your loved one's death has had on your family. When it comes to the emotional impact, having your family members keep journals that describe the emotional impact can be helpful as well. There are a variety of ways you can show the impact your loved one's death has had on your family.
Make sure that you work with your attorney to ensure that the evidence gathered by you and your attorney proves and paints a picture of exactly what happened to your loved one, how the defendant is responsible and how you and your family have suffered due to the loss of your loved one's life. Keep in mind that you don't need to have all of this evidence to start with; it can be gathered over time to prove what happened, liability and damages.
For more information, contact a firm such as Kaston & Aberle.
