A wrongful death action is intended to compensate the victims for their own losses rather than losses by the deceased. Plaintiffs are not entitled to certain types of wrongful death damages normally recoverable in personal injury claims, such as the wrongful death victim’s medical expenses, lost income and property damage. These claims belong to the wrongful death victim’s estate and may be recoverable by the personal representative of the victim in a “survival action.”
Wrongful Death Damages in Pennsylvania
In some wrongful death claims, punitive damages are recoverable if the victim survived the accident, however briefly, or if the property of the victim was damaged or lost before death. The only time brief survival or property damage are not necessary to obtain punitive wrongful death damages is when the wrongful death resulted from a homicide for which the defendant has been convicted of a felony. In many cases, the survival action may be joined with the wrongful death claim and litigated at the same time.
Wrongful Death Statutes
Wrongful death laws recognize that people suffer their own losses due to the wrongful death of someone close to them. In Pennsylvania, juries are allowed to award compensation to heirs asserting action based upon the following types of economic damages:
- Financial support that the wrongful death victim would have contributed to the heir during either the life expectancy of the victim or the heir, whichever is shorter;
- Loss of gifts or benefits that the heir would have expected to receive from the victim;
- Funeral and burial expenses; and
- Reasonable value of household services that the wrongful death victim would have provided to the heir.
A Pennsylvania jury is also permitted to award the monetary value of certain types of non-economic losses due to a wrongful death. These include:
- Loss of the victim’s love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, and society;
- Loss of the enjoyment of sexual relations, if applicable; and
- Loss of the training and guidance of the victim, if applicable.
A jury is not permitted to consider the grief, sorrow or mental anguish of the heirs, poverty or wealth of heirs, or the wrongful death victim’s pain and suffering. An exception exists in cases where a parent or sibling witnesses the injury or death. In such instances these heirs may claim damages for infliction of emotional distress.
Hiring a experienced Pennsylvania wrongful death lawyer therefore should not be delayed. A highly skilled wrongful death attorney understands the complex nature of wrongful death claims.
Contact Jeffrey Harlan Penneys, Philadelphia wrongful death lawyer. I have helped numerous clients through the difficult circumstances brought about by these tragic losses, and have obtained exceptional results in wrongful death claims.
