Florida has a specific statutory section known as the “Wrongful Death Act”. The Wrongful Death Act specifically sets out who is entitled to bring the case and how it is to proceed. Generally, the Court must appoint a personal representative of the estate of the deceased person or persons who is then identified as the plaintiff and is in charge of making a recovery for the beneficiaries and/or survivors of the deceased. In most instances, the spouse of the decedent is identified as the personal representative or the parent of the deceased child or the adult child of a deceased parent. Typically there is a family relationship involved, but the law does not require one.
The personal representative brings the case on behalf of the beneficiaries or survivors which would include the decedent’s spouse, parents and/or children. There are different damages available based upon who the survivors are. Most frequently those damages include past medical expenses, past lost wages, future lost earnings or earning capacity and of course, the main component, non-economic pain and suffering loss of the companionship type damages.
In some circumstances there are recoveries by the Estate of the decedent. This would include the potential future earnings, less expenses of the decedent over his or her lifetime. This is referred to as the prospective net accumulations. In some instances we direct the personal representative to allocate 100% of the recovery to the individual beneficiaries with no recovery going to the estate. This avoids directing money from the recovery to pay past medical expenses or pay other creditors who make a claim against the estate once it is opened and notification is published.
Florida law has set forth specific rules for damages involving medical negligence cases which can be very devastating to families. Primarily, there must be a spouse or a minor child (a child under age 25) surviving the decedent victim of medical negligence to bring a wrongful death claim against a doctor, hospital or medical facility. Additionally, there are specific rules that apply to damages in wrongful death cases against nursing home facilities which must be specifically explored.
The attorneys at Harris Guidi handling these types of claims can gather appropriate information and advise you on who has a claim and what type of claim can be brought when you or your family has lost a loved one as a result of another’s negligence.