Wrongful Death Attorney in Greeneville TN

Losing a beloved family member is devastating. The grief and sadness surviving family members experience can be much worse if their loved one’s death could have been avoided or prevented if someone else had been more responsible.

If a family member died due to someone else’s negligence or recklessness, you may be entitled to pursue a wrongful death claim against the at-fault party. Nothing can ever bring back the person you lost, but you may be able to recover the costs associated with your loved one’s death. Perhaps more importantly, you can be sure that the person or business that acted negligently is held responsible for their actions or inaction.

Let our compassionate Greeneville wrongful death attorneys at The Terry Law Firm take on the legal matters so that you can spend your time healing emotionally. We can begin with a free, no-obligation case review.

Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Greeneville?

In order to begin a wrongful death claim, you first have to prove your relationship is close enough under Tennessee state law. Not all family members can. You can initiate a Greeneville wrongful death claim if the person you lost was:

Your spouse
Your parent
Your child and they were your dependents, regardless of whether you adopted them

You can also begin a claim if you were legally designated as their:

Next of kin
The representative of their estate

If you fall into one of these categories, you need a wrongful death attorney to help you initiate a claim and recover the financial damages the at-fault party caused. The Terry Law Firm has experienced Greeneville-based lawyers ready to assist you with the process.

Compensation for a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Greeneville, TN

Money is not your first thought when you lose your family member. Unfortunately, bills still come due even while you mourn. That’s where a wrongful death claim could help you.

Under Tennessee state law, you may be entitled to compensation to cover the economic and non-economic damages that the at-fault person caused the deceased and the surviving family. These include:

Medical expenses resulting from the injury that caused the death
Loss of income, from the missed work from the time of your loved one’s injury to death and the money they would have earned
Pain and suffering of the deceased from injury until death
Funeral expenses
Pain and suffering of the deceased’s survivors
Loss of consortium (a legal term for losing your relationship with your family member)
In some cases, punitive damages (a legal term for a payment imposed on the at-fault party as punishment)

When you contact our Greeneville wrongful death lawyers at The Terry Law Firm, we’ll gather all of the documentation related to the injury and death. From there, we’ll calculate the real financial damages the negligent party caused.

We’ll add an amount derived from those totals to represent the subjective costs, like loss of consortium and pain and suffering. These are usually capped at $750,000 in Tennessee. Finally, we’ll demand payment from the negligent doctor, driver, or another person who caused your loved one’s death and their insurance company.

Comparative Fault and Wrongful Death in Greeneville

Wrongful death claims require you to prove that the person who injured your family member was at fault, or liable, for the injury and subsequent death. Your lawyer will investigate to understand the details of the deceased’s injury and who may have caused it.

Sometimes it’s very simple. But sometimes it’s much more complicated. What happens if your family member was partially responsible for their own injury?

In Tennessee, we have comparative fault. That means that you can still receive a settlement for wrongful death, even if your loved one was partially responsible for their own injury. This is the case as long as the proportion of blame assigned is less than 50 percent. The settlement will be reduced by the amount the deceased is found liable.

Statutes of Limitations for a Greeneville Wrongful Death Claim

In Tennessee, the statute of limitations for wrongful death is just one year. This means that in order to seek compensation for your loved one’s death, you need to begin your claim within a year.

It’s to your advantage to contact a lawyer as soon as possible so that they can build a thorough, convincing case on your behalf. Don’t wait and risk missing the deadline entirely. Call The Terry Law Firm today.

What You Have to Prove in a Greeneville Wrongful Death Claim

When you contact The Terry Law Firm, we’ll evaluate your case to understand whether we can prove that the at-fault party caused your family member’s death. In order to successfully resolve your wrongful death claim, your attorney will need to show that the person who hurt the deceased owed them a duty of care and violated it.

For example, all drivers owe the rest of the motorists on the road a duty to drive safely. If they drove distracted or under the influence, your lawyer can argue that they breached that duty. They’ll work to show that the at-fault party behaved negligently or recklessly, or, in some cases, acted intentionally to hurt the deceased.

Finally, your lawyer will need to prove that the wrongful death accident actually caused your loved one’s death and that it caused real damages. When you meet with one of our wrongful death attorneys at The Terry Law Firm, we’ll explain every step of the claim process to you and make sure you feel comfortable with the process.

Contact a Wrongful Death Lawyer in Greeneville Today!

At The Terry Law Firm, we know how difficult it is to recover after you lose someone due to another party’s negligence or intentional acts in Tennessee. We have years of experience helping families like yours pursue justice and a measure of closure through wrongful death actions.

Contact us to begin with a free, confidential case review. We will be here to provide understanding counsel to you and your family, and we’ll do everything we can to seek justice for your loved one.