Family injuries can turn your life upside down in an instant.
Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of family injuries, accounting for 52% of all personal injury claims. Unfortunately, most families are unaware of the legal rights they have separate from the injured person’s claim.
The problem is:
Families accept low-ball insurance offers, miss important deadlines, or don’t know they have the right to fight for compensation. Insurance companies and others take advantage of family members who don’t understand their legal rights.
Millions of families each year lose out on compensation they have a legal right to receive.
Learning your rights as a family member in these situations is the best way to make sure you get the justice and compensation your family deserves.
Your Complete Roadmap: Legal Rights of Family Injury Claims
- Understanding Your Family’s Legal Rights After an Injury
- When Family Members Can Take Legal Action
- Types of Compensation Available to Families
- How to Protect Your Family’s Interests
Understanding Your Family’s Legal Rights After an Injury
In most cases when a family member suffers a personal injury, the effects are felt by more than just the injured party.
The problem is most families are not aware of the legal options they have to protect their own interests.
The truth is, under the law, family members often have their own separate claim from the person who was injured. If your spouse, child, or parent is catastrophically injured, working with experienced legal professionals like Kogan & DiSalvo In North Miami Beach can help you understand all of your options and the available compensation for your family’s specific situation.
When a family member is catastrophically injured because of someone else’s negligence, it can affect every member of your household. Family members lose the ability to interact with their loved one as they once could. They may also be unable to rely on their partner’s or child’s income.
These are real damages, and under the law you are allowed to recover compensation to make up for these losses.
Every state has a statute of limitations on personal injury lawsuits, which are deadlines by which you must file your claim. If you wait too long, you could lose the right to receive compensation.
When Family Members Can Take Legal Action
Not every personal injury allows family members to take legal action. But when they do, the resulting compensation can be substantial.
Loss of consortium claims are the most common type of family member lawsuit. The term refers to a legal doctrine that allows a person’s spouse to seek compensation when their relationship is impacted by the injury.
If your spouse sustains a catastrophic injury in an accident, like a traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury that has a negative impact on your marriage, you may be able to file your own claim. This can cover damages like loss of affection, companionship, and support.
Parents are also able to make a claim in some situations when their children suffer catastrophic injuries. As in the spousal case above, the key issue is severity. A child’s minor injury may not be enough to warrant a parental lawsuit. But a catastrophic injury that results in a fundamental change to a family’s circumstances often is.
One important point to remember is that approximately 95% of personal injury cases settle out of court and never make it to trial. This means that most families are able to resolve their claims through negotiation rather than a court case.
Types of Compensation Available to Families
The good news for families when a member is seriously injured is that the law allows family members to recover many of the same types of damages as the injured person.
Economic damages are intended to compensate your family for the financial impact of your loved one’s injury. This can include items like lost income, increased expenses, and the cost of hiring additional childcare or housework help.
Non-economic damages can be available to compensate families for the non-financial effects of an injury. This recognizes that catastrophic injuries hurt family relationships in addition to causing physical pain and medical bills.
Loss of consortium damages are a specific type of non-economic damages that cover losses including:
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of affection
- Loss of sexual relations (for spouses)
- Loss of household support or services
- Emotional pain and suffering from watching a loved one go through an accident and injury
Wrongful death claims represent the most serious form of family injury case, but also have the most categories of damages available to family members. In addition to funeral and burial expenses, families can recover for lost future income, love, companionship, and guidance.
One key point to keep in mind is that family member claims are separate from the injured person’s lawsuit. When a person is catastrophically injured, total compensation available to a family could be much higher than initially realized.
How to Protect Your Family’s Interests
There are a number of steps you can take early on in a case to help protect your family’s interests.
Documentation is a key one, as keeping detailed records of how the injury has impacted your family life is important in all family injury cases. This can include time taken off of work, out-of-pocket expenses, and changes in family dynamics and daily routines.
It’s also a good idea to get professional medical treatment for any emotional or psychological issues that family members experience in the wake of a loved one’s injury. The resulting documentation can help support a legal claim.
One thing not to do is accept early settlements, especially those offered by insurance companies. Insurers are in the business of paying as little as possible, and they know the full impact of an injury on family relationships may not be clear at first.
Be sure to understand any deadlines for filing a claim. Statutes of limitations can vary from state to state, as can the clock starting dates.
Working with an experienced legal team is another important step in protecting your family’s interests. Family injury cases are complex and subject to unique laws and time limits.
The right legal team can make sure all of your family’s potential claims are identified and fought for aggressively.
Key Steps Every Family Should Take
Act quickly but don’t rush into settlement offers without knowing your rights.
Gather all documentation you can that shows how your family life has changed. This can include medical records, employment records, financial statements, etc.
Get multiple medical opinions to establish the full extent of the injury. In some cases, medical issues may not be immediately apparent and second or third opinions can make a big difference in understanding your family’s damages.
Calculate all your family’s damages and don’t limit your thinking to medical bills and expenses. Include lost income, increased expenses, and value of services the injured family member can no longer provide.
Final Thoughts
Family injuries affect more than just the person who is hurt. Legal rights exist to allow family members to recover compensation for the negative ways an injury affects your life.
Don’t fall for the insurance company lie that only the person who was injured has rights. When a person you love is seriously injured because of someone else’s negligence, your entire family may be entitled to compensation.
Remember that the law recognizes families get injured together, and it has created legal pathways for recovery. But the system doesn’t work unless you take action to claim your rights.
Don’t try to protect your family’s interests alone. Work with experienced legal professionals who understand these cases and will fight for your family to get the maximum amount of compensation possible.
Your family’s future is at stake, don’t gamble with their wellbeing and financial security by delaying.
William Gall is a seasoned attorney specializing in civil litigation and family law. With a legal career spanning over two decades, William has built a reputation for his meticulous attention to detail and his unwavering commitment to justice. In addition to practicing law, he is a prolific writer, contributing regularly to various legal blogs where he shares his insights on current legal trends, case law, and best practices. His articles are well-regarded in the legal community for their thorough research and practical advice, making complex legal concepts accessible to both legal professionals and the general public.