Role of Expert Witnesses in a Wrongful Death Claim

Answer:

The role of an expert witness in a wrongful death claim in Florida can really be two-fold. One, the expert witness can be an expert regarding fault for the accident. If it’s an auto accident that causes a wrongful death, the insurance company will ultimately hire an expert immediately that will try to look at all of the factors – the roadway evidence, the crush damage to the vehicles – and try to somehow argue that your loved one who passed away was partially at fault for that accident. We then can hire an expert that can combat that, and we have the financial ability to do that. Our law firm often handles these sort of cases where they become complex with multiple experts.

There can also be experts involved dealing with the earning capacity of the individual, how much they would’ve earned. That’s called loss of net estate accumulation. The expert can help to build the value of your case by showing that, over the years, the loved one would’ve accumulated wealth, and that’s part of the claim, that accumulated wealth that now cannot occur because the loved one has been lost. That’s money that can go to the family members.

You need a plaintiff’s attorney who understands the right experts to hire to combat the defendant experts and has the financial wherewithal to hire those experts, and we do have that. We’ve been around for almost 60 years. We often hire experts in these sort of cases, and we pay that cost up front, so you don’t have to pay it, and it’s just reimbursed at the end. If you’ve had an accident like this, where you’ve lost a loved one, please feel free to reach out to us. We can appropriately handle that case to maximize the value of it.