Pursuing Compensation After the Driver Who Caused Your Crash Passed Away
Tragically, 880 people died in car accidents in Missouri in 2019. While some of these casualties were people who were negatively impacted by another’s mistake, others were caused by the negligent acts of those who passed away. If the motorist who caused your crash died in the accident, you likely have questions about filing a claim and whether the compensation that you receive will be impacted by the motorist’s death. In reality, pursuing compensation from a deceased driver is often complicated, particularly if you need to file a lawsuit. Regardless of the situation that you now face, an experienced personal injury attorney can help you navigate the process of obtaining the compensation you deserve following a car crash.
You Still Have a Case if the Responsible Driver Died
Compensation claims often revolve around whether another person’s negligence caused your damages. The issue of whether a negligent party survives a crash is often not relevant to a claim’s validity. Missouri is an at-fault state, which means that each driver must carry liability insurance in case a crash occurs. When a person causes an accident, an injured party might then pursue a claim for compensation with the liable party’s insurance carrier, which can lead to a period of negotiation that ultimately resolves in a settlement agreement. Routinely, this process can be performed between the insurance carrier and the injury victim, and it rarely directly involves the responsible driver. Consequently, an at-fault driver who passes away is not likely to interfere with an injured person’s ability to receive compensation after an accident. However, when negotiations fail, the path to recovery can be a bit more complicated when the defendant has passed away.
Pursuing Legal Action Against a Negligent Driver Who Passed Away
When efforts to pursue compensation have failed prior to litigation, the only option is then to file suit, and a suit must be filed against the deceased individual’s estate. Claims for compensation with living and deceased drivers differ greatly on these issues. For cases involving living at-fault parties, lawsuits can be filed against those parties, which are then defended and paid for by their insurance companies. If the driver responsible for a crash passes away, a lawsuit would then be initiated against the deceased individual’s estate, and this is where things can sometimes get complicated.
Worries About Negatively Impacting the Deceased Person’s Family
Car crash deaths are particularly challenging for the survivors who lost a loved one in an accident. Accident victims routinely hesitate when it comes to pursuing claims when the responsible party died in the crash due to their concerns that the deceased person’s surviving loved ones are mourning. When it comes to filing a personal injury claim, however, it is important to understand that you likely will not interact with the people impacted and you are not disturbing the deceased individual’s loved ones. Instead, in most cases, you are dealing with the insurance carrier associated with the case.
Contact an Experienced Accident Attorney
At House Law LLC, our attorneys are ready to help you navigate the process of pursuing the compensation you deserve, even if the party who caused your accident died in the crash.
Tags: car accidents, car crash, car crash accidents
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