Damages for emotional losses in wrongful death lawsuits

The emotional weight of a wrongful death is immense. There’s the cold shock of reality, the numbness of depression and the constant worry about the future. No matter what role that person played in your life, having them leave this world so suddenly can create an unfillable hole in your heart and life. Many people in these situations seek help and guidance through wrongful death claims.

The greater the injury, the larger the potential monetary awards, so a wrongful death can significantly raise the stakes. The passing of someone means that those around them have a new financial landscape to navigate. Whether or not they were the breadwinner, assessing economic damages like lost wages and future earning can be seen as easier. In addition, many choose to seek out compensation based on non-economic damages, or as it is colloquially known, “pain and suffering.” This is where the process gets complicated.

Why are emotional damages so hard to figure out?

How do you monetize the hours spent in bed, overcoming depressive episodes? Or maybe the loved one cooked dinner three times a week, coached the local baseball team and was active in their community. There’s a lot to consider. How do you quantity human life?

As a 2014 paper from the University Of Minnesota points out, pinning down exactly how much money to compensate for abstract feelings or fulfillment is no easy task. It’s providing “compensation for an injury that is intangible in money terms.”

A loss of consortium: A potential linchpin point in a wrongful death

Among these damages, one key point that gets brought up is about loss of consortium. While the term “loved one” can apply to a number of different people, it can oftentimes mean a spouse or a child. If you and a loved one had plans to parent a child, the devastation that can arise from wrongful death is enormous. Losing a life partner would bring anyone pain.

Wrongful death cases can be especially thorny to figure out, the awards in such cases have the potential to be much higher. As such, getting help from someone who is familiar with wrongful death actions can provide a grieving family with guidance in a trying time.