Bear Wrongful Death Lawyers
Fighting for families when a loved one dies in an accident in Delaware
The death of a loved one is always hard. It’s especially hard when your loved one dies due to the crush of an automobile or any other type of painful crash. Learning that another person or company could have prevented the accident is devastating. At Silverman, McDonald & Friedman, we have more than 100 years of combined experience fighting for families when your parent, child, spouse, or sibling dies. Our Bear wrongful death lawyers respect your need to mourn while we pursue your claim. We’ve helped many accident victims like you obtain strong recoveries. Please contact us now to assert your family’s right to compensation for their financial harm, the personal loss of not having their loved one to personally enrich their lives, and their mental anguish.
How can we help?
- What types of accidents are deadly?
- Who do your Bear wrongful death lawyers hold accountable for fatal accidents?
- Which family members can claim wrongful death benefits in Bear?
- What is the value of a wrongful death claim in Bear?
- What are the unique challenges of filing a wrongful death action in Delaware?
What types of accidents are deadly?
Our Bear wrongful death lawyers represent families when a relative dies in any type of accident including the following:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle crashes
- Pedestrian accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Uber and Lyft collisions
- Workplace accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Accidents caused by products that are defective
- Construction accidents
Who do your Bear wrongful death lawyers hold accountable for fatal accidents?
At Silverman, McDonald & Friedman, we work with our own investigators, law enforcement, product safety professionals, accident reconstruction experts, product safety experts, building code officials, and others to show why the defendants should be held responsible.
Our lawyers file claims against everyone who causes an accident including:
Vehicle accidents
The defendants in car, truck, motorcycle, and other vehicle accident cases include:
- The drivers
- The owners of the vehicles
- The employers of the drivers
- The trucking companies involved in a shipment
- Vehicle manufacturers
- Taverns and other sellers of alcohol to drivers who cause accidents due to their intoxication
Workplace accidents
We file wrongful death claims against the following depending on the worker’s status:
- Claims on behalf of employees and independent contractors against the manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of defective machines, equipment, and tools
- Claims on behalf of independent contractors against the employer.
When an employee dies due to a workplace accident, we seek workers’ compensation death benefits on behalf of the family.
Product liability claims
If your relative dies due to defective car parts, truck parts, motorcycle parts, equipment, machines, tools, appliances, children’s products, or other defective products – we file a product liability claim against:
- The manufacturers who make the products
- The distributors who distribute the products
- The retailers who sell the product.
Premises liability claims
If your loved one dies while visiting a business or organization or walking through a construction site, we file claims against:
- The owners of any type of business (such as retail store, shopping center, apartment, restaurant, or construction site
- Other responsible parties including architects, engineers, maintenance companies, and repair companies
We’ll explain who is responsible when we handle any other type of accident claim.
Which family members can claim wrongful death benefits in Bear?
In Delaware, the family members who are entitled to receive the wrongful death settlement or verdict include spouses, children, parents, and siblings of the family member who dies. We’ll explain who qualifies depending on their relationship to the deceased.
If there are no qualifying close family members, the beneficiaries may include aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren.
In Delaware, the personal representative of the estate files the wrongful death claim. The personal representative must file the wrongful death claim within two years from the date the accident occurs. Be careful, the time to file your claim may be shorter - such as when the defendant is a Delaware or New Castle County agency or entity. Please contact us as soon as possible.
What is the value of a wrongful death claim in Bear?
Our Bear wrongful death lawyers take the time to listen to all the ways your loved one made your life better. We work with financial professionals who understand how to value wrongful death claims, your loved one’s employer, and anyone else with relevant information.
Wrongful death damages in Delaware include:
- The funeral and burial expenses up to $7,000
- The loss of financial support (wages and other earnings) for each beneficiary
- The loss of child or spousal support
- The “loss of parental, marital and household services, including the reasonable cost of providing for the care of minor children”
- The mental anguish of the surviving spouse and next-of-kin
We may also seek punitive damages if the conduct of the defendant is unconscionable such as in cases when the prosecution files criminal charges against the defendant.
What are the unique challenges of filing a wrongful death action in Delaware?
Wrongful death cases are different than personal injury cases in many ways. Your loved one isn’t there to tell his/her story. Beneficiaries need to grieve. At Silverman, McDonald & Friedman, we’ll help you through this difficult time while asserting the family’s right to hold the wrongdoers accountable.
Our Bear wrongful death lawyers have the experience and resources to handle wrongful death claims including these two unique challenges:
Proving fault when a loved one is deceased?
Since your family member is not alive, we work with other witnesses to show how accidents occur and who is responsible. We work to establish fault by having the police, eyewitnesses, other claimants (such as surviving passengers), product safety professionals, and others testify about what happened. In some cases, we may have traffic reconstruction experts explain and show how vehicle accidents happen.
In Delaware, generally, the defendants cannot testify as to the liability issues because your family member isn’t alive to testify. We understand when defendants can and can’t testify and what they can talk about.
Our Bear wrongful death attorneys also present evidence about the death of your loved one from the county coroner and any physicians who treated your loved one.
What happens if criminal charges are filed?
If the government files criminal charges, such as driving under the influence (DUI) charges, we coordinate your wrongful death case with the criminal case. This coordination includes working to use the criminal case evidence (such as the results of a breath test) or the conviction itself in your civil case.
Talk with our Bear wrongful death lawyers now
At Silverman, McDonald & Friedman, we understand how upset and hurt you are. We’ve earned the respect of many of our clients, the insurance industry, and the legal community for our ability to thoroughly prepare your case, negotiate settlements, and argue cases before juries. We fight to help families who have suffered a tragic loss honor their loved ones by holding the wrongdoers accountable and helping families protect their future. Please call our Bear wrongful death lawyers or complete our contact form to schedule a free consultation. We represent families throughout Delaware. Our attorneys handle wrongful death cases on a contingency fee.