Wrongful Death Attorney in Glendale, AZ

Wrongful deaths can result from many different forms of negligence. The legal investigation must focus on what happened in the specific case rather than simply on the type of accident.

Speeding, distracted driving, impairment, red-light violations, unsafe turns, aggressive driving, and failure to yield can result in catastrophic collisions.

A fatal crash may also involve more than one responsible party. An employer could be involved when an employee was driving for work, a vehicle manufacturer could potentially be responsible for a dangerous defect, or a public entity could become relevant when roadway conditions contributed to a collision.

Families affected by a fatal collision can learn more about how our Glendale car accident attorneys investigate serious motor vehicle crashes.

Crashes involving tractor-trailers, delivery trucks, construction vehicles, and other commercial vehicles can involve complicated questions about driver conduct, company policies, maintenance, cargo loading, vehicle ownership, and insurance coverage.

Our Glendale truck accident lawyers can investigate whether the driver, trucking company, employer, contractor, maintenance provider, or another party contributed to a fatal collision.

Pedestrians and cyclists have little physical protection when struck by a motor vehicle. These cases can require reconstruction of vehicle speed, traffic-signal timing, visibility, lighting, driver distraction, crosswalk use, and other factors.

Perez Law Group has experience handling serious pedestrian cases and wrongful death claims. Learn more about representation available through our Glendale pedestrian injury lawyers.

A death may lead to a medical malpractice investigation when a doctor, hospital, nurse, facility, or other healthcare provider may have failed to meet the applicable standard of care.

Potential cases can involve delayed diagnoses, surgical errors, medication errors, failures to monitor a patient, emergency-room mistakes, or inadequate follow-up treatment.

Medical malpractice claims involve additional procedural and expert requirements. Our Glendale medical malpractice attorneys can evaluate whether the available medical evidence supports a claim.

Fatal injuries can also occur at apartment communities, retail properties, hotels, workplaces, construction sites, entertainment venues, swimming pools, parking areas, and other properties.

Liability may depend on who controlled the property, what hazard existed, how long the danger was present, whether prior complaints or incidents occurred, and whether reasonable precautions could have prevented the death.

Our Glendale premises liability lawyers investigate serious injuries and deaths involving unsafe property conditions.

Vehicles, batteries, appliances, machinery, medical devices, tools, children’s products, and other consumer goods can cause fatal injuries when they contain dangerous defects.

Product cases can involve manufacturers, component suppliers, distributors, retailers, and other companies in the supply chain. Visit our Glendale product liability attorney page to learn more about these claims.

Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-613 provides that wrongful death damages should be fair and just in relation to the injuries caused by the death to the surviving parties who are entitled to recover.

That means a wrongful death case should not be valued by looking only at a person’s paycheck or the immediate financial expenses following a death.

Depending on the facts and the relationship between the deceased person and each surviving beneficiary, damages may address losses such as:

• Lost financial support
• Loss of household services
• Loss of love and companionship
• Loss of care, guidance, and protection
• Grief, sorrow, and emotional suffering resulting from the death

A surviving child, for example, may lose years of parental guidance and support. A surviving spouse may lose both financial contributions and a life partner. Parents who lose a child may experience a very different but equally profound type of loss.

Evidence of these damages can include employment and income records, family photographs, testimony from relatives and friends, information about household responsibilities, financial records, and evidence showing the relationship each beneficiary had with the person who died.

This is an important distinction that many families do not learn about until after speaking with an attorney.

A wrongful death claim focuses on the losses experienced by the surviving beneficiaries because their family member died.

A survival action, by contrast, generally preserves certain legal claims that belonged to the deceased person before death and allows the personal representative of the estate to pursue them.

For example, if someone survived a serious collision for a period of time before dying, the estate may have claims involving certain losses incurred between the injury and death.

Arizona Revised Statutes § 14-3110 addresses survival of causes of action and specifically provides that damages for the deceased person’s own pain and suffering are not allowed after the injured person dies.

Wrongful death and survival claims can arise from the same incident, but they are legally different. Determining which claims exist can be important when identifying all damages potentially available to the family and estate.

Not every relative has the same rights under Arizona’s wrongful death statute.

Under Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-612, a wrongful death action may be brought by and in the name of the surviving spouse, child, parent or guardian, or the personal representative of the deceased person.

The claim is brought for the benefit of the surviving spouse, children, or parents. If none of those beneficiaries survive, the action may be brought for the benefit of the deceased person’s estate.

This distinction can become particularly important in families involving multiple children, divorced parents, unmarried partners, siblings, grandparents, stepchildren, or blended families.

For example, a sibling is not independently named as a wrongful death beneficiary simply because he or she is the deceased person’s brother or sister. If no statutory beneficiaries survive, however, the estate may have rights that need to be evaluated separately.

A wrongful death attorney can examine the family relationships involved and determine who may bring the claim and which surviving family members may legally be entitled to recover damages.

For many Arizona wrongful death cases, the general deadline is two years from the date of death. Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-542 states that an action involving injuries from which death results generally accrues at the death of the injured person.

Families should not assume that means it is safe to wait two years.

Some claims have substantially shorter deadlines. For example, cases involving a city, county, state agency, public school, public employee, or another public entity may be subject to Arizona’s special government-claim requirements.

Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-821.01 generally requires a Notice of Claim against a public entity, public school, or public employee to be filed within 180 days after the claim accrues. In addition, A.R.S. § 12-821 generally requires an action against a public entity or public employee to be brought within one year after the cause of action accrues.

Different circumstances can change how a deadline is calculated, which is why families should have the specific facts reviewed rather than relying solely on a general limitation period.

There is another reason to investigate early: evidence disappears. Security video may be automatically erased. Vehicles may be repaired or destroyed. A dangerous property condition can be changed. Witnesses can become difficult to locate. Electronic records can be lost.

Speaking with an attorney early gives the legal team more opportunity to identify and preserve evidence before it disappears.

An allegation that the deceased person contributed to an accident does not automatically end every Arizona wrongful death case.

Arizona follows comparative-fault principles in many negligence cases. When applicable, damages may be reduced according to the percentage of fault legally attributed to the deceased person or allocated among other responsible parties.

Insurance companies may argue that the deceased person was speeding, distracted, failed to use reasonable care, entered an unsafe area, ignored medical advice, or otherwise contributed to what happened.

Those allegations should not simply be accepted as fact.

An attorney can examine physical evidence, witness testimony, video, records, expert analysis, and other information before determining how responsibility should actually be allocated.

The evidence needed depends on how the death occurred. Serious wrongful death cases may require accident or incident reports, photographs and video, witness information, medical and hospital records, medical examiner records when applicable, employment and income documents, electronic records, insurance information, and evidence showing the relationship between the deceased person and surviving family members.

Complex cases may also require testimony from accident reconstructionists, physicians, engineers, economists, vocational experts, product specialists, or other qualified professionals.

The purpose is not merely to establish that a death occurred. The evidence should help establish why it occurred, who was legally responsible, and how the loss affected the surviving family members.

Wrongful death cases frequently involve insurance companies, corporations, healthcare organizations, trucking companies, property owners, or other defendants that may begin investigating the incident shortly after it happens.

Perez Law Group can conduct an independent investigation on behalf of your family.

Depending on the case, our legal team can obtain available records, preserve evidence, identify witnesses, investigate responsible parties, analyze applicable insurance coverage, work with qualified experts when necessary, document the damages suffered by eligible family members, communicate with insurers and defense attorneys, negotiate settlement proposals, and prepare the case for litigation when an appropriate resolution cannot be reached.

We can also explain settlement offers in practical terms so your family understands the advantages, risks, and consequences before making a decision.

The decision whether to accept or reject a settlement ultimately belongs to the client.

Perez Law Group is located at 7508 N. 59th Avenue in Glendale, Arizona.

Fatal accidents in the Glendale area may occur on major transportation corridors such as Loop 101, Grand Avenue, Glendale Avenue, Northern Avenue, Bell Road, Camelback Road, or streets surrounding major destinations such as Westgate and State Farm Stadium.

Other cases may originate at apartment communities, medical facilities, construction sites, workplaces, retail properties, nursing facilities, or residential neighborhoods throughout the West Valley.

When litigation is necessary, wrongful death and other personal injury cases arising in Glendale may proceed through the Maricopa County court system. The Civil Department of the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County provides information about civil cases, including personal injury and medical malpractice claims.

Our Glendale location allows Perez Law Group to serve families throughout Glendale, Phoenix, Peoria, Surprise, Avondale, Goodyear, Buckeye, and surrounding Arizona communities.