Losing a loved one in an accidental death is one of the hardest things for a person to come to terms with. Unfortunately, it happens all too often. If you are in this position and want to know your legal rights then we recommend contacting The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker at 800-333-0000 for a free legal consultation. You can also read on to find out the statistics on these accidents in California and throughout the country.
By the number: Looking at the wrongful death statistics in California
The first thing to know is that California has the highest accidental death rate in the United States. The most common way for a person to die in an accident death accident is in a car accident. In fact, there are more than 4,000 deaths in car accidents each year in California alone.
When you consider that there are only a total of about 10,000 deaths throughout the state in an average year, it is easy to see that car accidents are a leading cause of death. Further, it is important to know that most of those accidents are the result of a driver acting negligently.
Of course, not all accidents involve cars. About 300 people die each year in accidents with big rigs or other commercial vehicles. Around 100 people die in California each year as a result of an accident involving machinery or other heavy equipment. In fact, there are more than 300 work-related deaths in California in the average year and about 33% of them involve motor vehicles, though slip and fall deaths are another common workplace accident.
Filing a wrongful death lawsuit for a car accident
If a California car accident leads to a person’s death then a wrongful death lawsuit may be applicable. This is only true if there is evidence that the victim would still be alive if the at-fault party had not behaved negligently or recklessly.
For example, a driver may be responsible for a wrongful death if they were driving while drunk, driving while drowsy, driving while under the influence of drugs (whether legal prescription drugs, marijuana, or illegal drugs, texting while driving (or otherwise using their smartphone), driving recklessly or aggressively, or not driving a safe vehicle.
In some cases, the driver is not actually the at-fault party in a wrongful death case. It may be that the party named in a lawsuit is the manufacturer of the vehicle, the employer of the driver, the owner of a company vehicle, the government if the accident was caused by issues in the road, or a third-party that created a dangerous condition on the road.
Call us today to find out if you have grounds for a lawsuit
We know how difficult your situation is. We know that you do not want to be in this position. We also know that there is no way to get justice enough for your loss. However, the truth is that you do have expenses and you should not be responsible for them. Contact The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker at 800-333-0000 today if you are ready to find out what your legal recourses are.
