Hamilton Wrongful Death Lawyers – Fighting for Families Who’ve Lost Loved Ones Since 2003. No Fees Unless We Win.
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If your loved one has Died in a Car Accident, call us now. We’ve Recovered Millions of Families all across Ontario since 2003.
The sudden unexplained death of your loved one in a car accident can no doubt leave you with many, many unanswered questions. The emotional trauma of such unexpected loss can be gripping and leave a victim’s family with both major psychological grief and significant financial burdens, such as funeral costs and loss of financial support for the family. More often than not, the spouses or loved ones of car accident victims can no longer continue to support their families because of the lost shared income normally relied on by their deceased loved ones. This can leave close loved family members with serious and significant financial issues.
Matt Lalande has helped families of wrongful death victims since 2003. We can help level the playing field against large insurers who may not be fully interested in compensating your family for your losses appropriately. Lalande Personal Injury Lawyers are passionate Ontario car accident wrongful death lawyers who understand the needs of our clients.
How do I find the Best Wrongful Death Lawyer?
We encourage you to read this article, which focuses on hiring a lawyer. We understand it’s very difficult to find and hire a fatality lawyer if you do not have a personal relationship with a lawyer or a referral from a friend or family member. We understand that families are often emotionally overwhelmed and feel like they are in an insurmountable place. Our lawyers represent the families of fatality victims province-wide. Matt Lalande has been practicing wrongful death law since 2003 and understands that losing a loved one, unnaturally and unexpectedly, is always a traumatic experience, regardless of the cause.
We recommend interviewing several lawyers and retaining a lawyer or law firm you feel most comfortable talking with. You will meet some lawyers who smile and some who don’t. You will meet some lawyers who understand your situation and some you feel you do not.
You will meet some lawyers who feel your pain and are passionate and some who recite the law from across the table. You will meet some lawyers you think could pick up the phone and call and others you will not. Remember this: a wrongful death car accident case is a very long process – and it’s important that you do not feel intimidated by the person you work with. You need a lawyer to make you feel like you are part of the team. It’s important that everyone works together and everyone has a connection, from the boardroom to the Courtroom.
Can your Loved one’s Estate claim Damages?
Yes. In Ontario, the Trustee Act generally governs survival actions by estates, covering the deceased’s losses before death. Section 38(1) of the Trustee Act provides that the executor or administrator of any deceased person can sue for the injuries in the same manner and with the same rights and remedies as the deceased would if living, have been entitled to do. When recovered for the victim’s family, the compensation shall normally form part of the deceased’s personal estate.
The Trustee Act in Ontario allows an estate’s executor to maintain a lawsuit on behalf of a deceased person – however, the executor may not pursue compensation for “death or for the loss of expectation of life” – but rather for the suffering that the deceased endured.
Who Can Bring a Wrongful Death Claim in Ontario after a Car Accident?
In Ontario, certain family members have the right to compensation. The Family Law Act specifically enumerates and defines the family members who can bring an action for the loss of care, guidance, and companionship, as well as pecuniary loss resulting from injury or death. The legislation permits spouses, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, and siblings to make a claim. A deceased person’s same-sex partner may also be able to make a claim in Ontario.
In Ontario and for a wrongful death case, a spouse is defined as two people who are married to each other or who have been living with each other continuously for three years – or if they are the natural or adoptive parent of a child. Dependent kids could also be kids from a previous marriage who are receiving child support paid by the car accident victim.
What Kind of wrongful Death Compensation is my Family Entitled to?
In Ontario, family members are entitled to bring claims for economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages – are something your lawyer might call pecuniary compensation. This typically refers to the loss of money as a result of injury. Pecuniary damage, in the context of wrongful death, may include loss of potential earnings – meaning the potential earnings that your loved one would’ve made and contributed to the family.
It’s important to understand that the basis of any wrongful death lawsuit is to put family members in the same financial position that they would have been in had their loved one not been killed. In the case of wrongful death compensation, it’s necessary to measure the financial loss suffered by all surviving dependents.
Typically, compensation, such as the loss of income, is limited to the spouse and kids of the person killed in a car accident. The financial loss is normally calculated with reference to the income that your loved one would’ve made after deducting income tax and the amount that he or she would’ve personally consumed had he or she lived.
In other words, the focus is to allow you and your loved ones to maintain the same quality of life, from a financial perspective, as would have been maintained had your loved one not been killed.
Non-economic damages – Ontario has no definition of wrongful death compensation. Instead, family members who are considered dependents are eligible to recover compensation for the loss of guidance, care and companionship that they would have received had their loved one not been killed in a car accident. Typically, a judge or jury will assess this type of compensation rather than statute.
The loss of care guiding companionship is hard to quantify. Typically, for a spouse, there would be a loss of companionship. For a child, Courts would assume there is a loss of guidance and care. Judges and Juries typically try and do their best to properly compensate a family who has lost a loved one in a car accident. Quantifying the loss of your loved one’s life in terms of money doesn’t make sense, but it’s the only remedy which a court has available to it in the circumstances.
Calculating compensation and wrongful death cases is not an easy thing because no amount of money can ever replace a loved one’s life or the contribution that he or she makes to the people around him or her. Emotional bonds cannot be calculated in terms of dollars and cents.
What’s important to understand is that despite how they feel, judges and juries are not entitled to award millions of dollars in compensation for the loss of care, guidance and companionship. They must follow a range consistent with compensation previously made by other judges in other cases. It’s important to talk to the lawyers that you interview about this. Experienced car accident fatality lawyers can give you a range of compensation in this regard.
Factors in assessing non-economic damages – in assessing damages for the loss of care guidance and companionship for all family members and dependence, courts typically follow comments in cases previously made by other judges in other cases. For example, several factors that judges have examined in awarding compensation and wrongful death cases are:
- the age of your loved one at the time of his or her death
- his or her physical health at the time of his or her death
- whether your loved one lived with his or her dependents, and if not, the frequency of visits
- the intimacy and quality of your relationship with your deceased loved one prior to his or her death
- your emotional self-sufficiency
- whether you have been separated at any point in your marriage or relationship, and why
- whether you were separated at the time of the car accident
- your loved one’s life expectancy had he/she not been killed
- your life expectancy
- the health of your relationship
Your income loss – in addition to the loss of your loved one’s income in the family, the living spouse might have suffered a personal loss of income due to the psychological grief he or she suffered as a result of the death of the family member.
Loss of benefits – If your loved one had medical, dental, and drug coverage benefits, you may be able to claim these losses as pecuniary losses.
General expenses – Dependents may advance claims for expenses as pecuniary losses. Recording all such costs, including funeral expenses, parking, meals, travel, or any other expenses incurred due to your loved one’s death, should be kept and provided as part of your losses.
Rehabilitation or attendant care services – you or your surviving family members may require counselling services and other rehabilitation-type services to help move on through the grieving process. Some surviving dependents have required lifelong psychological care. You and your loved ones may be entitled to future care costs if those costs are not provided for in the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule.
Household and Childcare Services – you or your surviving family members may be able to claim household and childcare services. Spouses and children are entitled to compensation for the value of the loss of household services provided by the deceased family member. Children also must be compensated for the value of the loss of childcare services that would’ve been provided by the deceased had he or she survived. These awards are typically not dependent upon the likelihood of incurred replacement costs—instead, the awards attempt to monetize the value of the deceased’s contribution to the household.
Loss of inheritance – in certain situations, dependents may advance a claim for loss of inheritance. In other words, if not for the deceased premature death, the accident victim would have built up a larger estate that would’ve been available to beneficiaries, and therefore, the beneficiaries would’ve been deprived of the benefit of the increase in the estate.
If your Loved one has been Killed in a Car Accident – our Wrongful Death Lawyer can help.
Car accident wrongful death in Ontario is when a fatality is caused due to the negligence or carelessness of an at-fault driver. Whether it was running a red light, speed racing, not obeying a stop sign, using a cell phone, or being distracted – an individual can be held responsible for the death of another if that individual’s conduct caused his or her death. The driver will not pay your compensation personally. The negligent driver’s automobile liability insurance will cover claims made up to policy limits, which is typically $1 million- $2 million in Ontario.
Compensation can never bring your loved one back, and no award of damages can replace the love and care that you received. Still, compensation is a remedy that could help you adjust financially and replace financial support that your loved one would have contributed to the family. Suppose you depended on your loved one to help pay the mortgage, car payments, hockey, dance lessons, insurance, summer camps, food, utilities, etc. In that case, you should not be deprived of these family requirements and necessities that you have been used to because a negligent driver killed your spouse.
At Lalande Personal Injury Lawyers, we take pride in being trusted Hamilton personal injury lawyers since 2003. Over the years, we’ve helped our clients recover more than $45 Million in settlements and verdicts in personal injury, disability, and employment law cases. Whether you’re dealing with a life-changing injury, a denied disability claim, wrongful death, a hurt child or employment termination, we are here to provide compassionate and experienced legal representation. If you believe you have a case, call us today—we’re ready to help you secure the compensation you deserve.
Call Lalande Personal Injury Lawyers today, no matter where you are in Ontario at 905-333-8888 for your free consultation. Alternatively, you can contact us online, confidentially, by filling out a contact form.