At Stewart Tilghman Fox Bianchi & Cain, P.A., we’ve worked on some of the country’s largest, most high-stakes cases. We handle only a limited number of cases at a time, empowering us to devote our full attention and resources to truly severe, life-changing cases. Thanks to our experience, we’ve had the privilege of helping our clients overcome the worst challenges they’ve faced, giving them both justice for what they’ve suffered and hope for the future.
We know that the worst thing anyone can suffer is the loss of a loved one. Our firm has filed countless wrongful death claims against negligent companies and parties, which has, in turn, given our clients financial security, justice, and closure. The financial benefits of filing a wrongful death claim are self-evident: clients recover their losses due to lost earnings, medical care prior to death, funeral costs, and most importantly, their emotional anguish. However, today, we wanted to take a moment to highlight a little-known, intangible effect of filing a wrongful death claim.
Trauma, Healing & Accountability
The emotional impact of wrongful death cannot be overstated—it’s why the courts allow plaintiffs to claim mental and emotional anguish as part of their damages. When people are severely injured or lose a loved one, they’ve suffered a catastrophic loss—the kind of trauma that that inflicts life-altering hardship.
A vital component of healing from that is holding people accountable for the harm they inflicted on others. Seeing an at-fault person or company suffer no consequences for the harm they’ve caused can create even deeper pain for the grieving. It is through accountability that many people find closure and healing.
The Importance of Being Heard Through the Litigation Process
For many, the most important part of their litigation wasn’t the financial recovery—it was the chance to make at-fault parties answer for their neglect, recklessness, or decisions to prioritize profit over safety. This touches on another benefit: wrongful death claims are expensive for defendants. In addition to the cost of litigation, a wrongful death claim could include massive financial penalties as well as the loss of public trust. Wrongful death claims may include punitive damages, which are expressly designed to punish companies for egregious conduct.
What is the aggregate effect of all those costs? In our experience, companies that lose wrongful death claims often change their practices and policies to ensure that the conditions of the fatal accident are never repeated. In other words, a successful wrongful death claim can make your community a safer place. In fact, we have been successful in forcing negligent parties, including hospitals, to change their policies in order to ensure others do not suffer the same fate as our clients.
In the end, what any of us wants is simple: we want to know that our experiences, especially the traumatic ones, have meaning. When people are held to account for causing you pain or robbing you of a loved one and are compelled to change their behavior in response, it assures us that our clients’ suffering can help prevent future tragedies from ravaging other families.
If you lost a loved one as a result of an accident, speak with our Miami wrongful death lawyers as soon as possible to learn more about your options. Call (305) 770-6335 for free consultation today.