On Legal Matters - About Wrongful Death Lawsuits

The O.J. Simpson case in the 1990s showed that even if someone is acquitted of murder by a jury, he or she can still be held liable for a person’s death. After his acquittal for killing his ex-wife and her friend, Simpson was ordered to pay a large sum to the surviving families who filed a wrongful death lawsuit after a case was heard in civil court.

The criminal case required a different burden of proof than the civil case. In a criminal case, the prosecution must prove to the jury beyond reasonable doubt that a person committed a crime. In the civil suit, the plaintiff must prove that is probable that the person caused the death of another.

Murder is not the only type of incident that can lead to a wrongful death lawsuit. Others include the following scenarios listed below.

Deaths that were caused by a reckless act. This can include a car accident where the other driver was driving drunk or erratically.

The death was the result of negligence. A wrongful death lawsuit can be a part of medical malpractice where a doctor is accused of causing a patient’s death due to his or her negligence.

The amount of damages a defendant can win in a wrongful death lawsuit varies. The amount is determined by the projected future income the person would have provided if he or she had lived and the pain and suffering of the surviving plaintiffs. Unlike the Simpson case where a jury decided the amount of damages in a trial, most of these lawsuits are settled out of court.