Sometimes there’s one family member who’ll have one attorney in a wrongful death case and another family member who’ll have another attorney in a wrongful death case. Yes, they can both proceed with their own attorney in the same case. Sometimes people don’t want to participate in the case at all. That’s okay, too. In other words, we’ll have them sign away their right to proceed with the case, and we’re then able to proceed with the case. Different family members can have different attorneys in the same case, as well. Yes, that does happen. I just had a situation in a wrongful death case where one attorney that was representing one part of the family decided he didn’t want to proceed with the case, and so that family member came to me, and now I represent the whole family. Every case is different, but yes, different family members can have different attorneys. If you want to discuss your case and where you are in a case, give us a call at my office in Cheyenne.

Sometimes I’m asked why I would be a good attorney in a wrongful death case. First of all, I’ve handled a lot of cases that involve death in the course of my career. I was a prosecuting attorney at the start of my career. I saw a lot of murder cases and prosecuted a lot of murder cases— the kinds of cases in which unfortunate people were killed and family was left behind. I’ve also done a lot of wrongful death cases as a personal injury lawyer and as an insurance defense lawyer. So, I’ve had both sides of those kinds of cases, and I’ve had a lot of experience with wrongful death. I’ve had a lot of experience with the grief that people go through, as well. I’m old enough to have had some grief in my own life and to understand that about people. I’ve done a lot of continuing legal education. I’ve done a lot of reading about grief and the impact on the family. I’ve shared those experiences with other attorneys and other clients over the years.

You need somebody who is willing to connect with the family, who is willing to spend the time to find out what the total loss really is— the real loss, the emotional loss, the impact on the family, because every family is a unit. Suddenly, a person is missing from that unit that’s not there anymore. There’s not a wholeness to the family. You need somebody to be able to tell people about that loss, and I have been successful in doing that many times. Part of the journey is learning about what people have gone through and being able to present that. Keep that in mind and, if we can help you with your case, please feel free to call us at our office in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

There’s a situation in Wyoming where a person that dies because of the wrongful conduct of somebody else can also be partially at fault for their own death. That can happen. We have to evaluate every case, and usually there is some fault on the part of the injured party. The law in Wyoming recognizes that they can have some fault in their loss and still recover. The answer to the question is you can still recover. Another question is how much. If it’s significant enough, we may not want to handle the case or we may recommend you not go forward with the case, but every case is different. If the decedent is 10 or 15% at fault for their own death, they can have a pretty good claim for the other 90 or 85% of a claim. It’s average, so every case is different. We have to look at every case, and that’s why you have an attorney like me on your case. Give us a call and speak with a Wyoming wrongful death attorney if you have more questions.

People sometimes wonder if they can collect punitive damages in a wrongful death case. The answer is, yes, you can. In fact, I have a case in Wyoming in federal court right now in which a wrongful woman was killed in a collision. The driver of a semi-tractor trailer drove off and left the scene with people in a roll-over vehicle off the highway. Nobody saw the crash, and he left them to die. Now, we collected punitive damages in that case because he drove off. Not only did he drive off, he communicated with his trucking company. The driver and the president of the trucking company concocted a story that they told to the trooper about hitting a deer. In that kind of case, you can get punitive damages. In fact, the wrongful death statute itself calls for exemplary damages in the right kind of case. Exemplary damages, of course, is another term for punitive damages, so yes, you can collect punitive damages in the right wrongful death case. That is a powerful deterrent to companies. If you have some punitive damages in the right case, it can look like you won’t prevent those kinds of issues in the future. Give us a call if you have more questions at my office in Cheyenne.

A wrongful death survivor in Wyoming in somebody that was related under the statute to the decedent, including a wife, a child, a father, or a mother. It could be even more extended family, as long as it’s a family member that had a connection to that person and lost care, comfort, and society of that person. We have to evaluate every case on its merits and what those people – what they’re relationship was and how they miss that person. It can even be an adopted child of the decedent, that is the person that died. We have to evaluate every case. Every case is different. Sometimes people may be closely related, say a child, but there is a division in the family where they don’t communicate on a regular basis. That will impact how much the case is worth for that particular individual. We can still bring that kind of case, and some people in the family will get more than others in the family or have a stronger case that could be argued to the jury. It depends on the case. It depends on the relationship. Every family is different.

People do understand. A friend of mine tried a case in Nevada, and in that case, the sister had died. She would not see her brothers except once a year. They were in Wisconsin, but they would talk every week on the telephone. It would be a long, extended conversation on the phone. That was a substantial case, a substantial loss to those brothers even though they were elderly themselves at the time. It was a big loss to them having lost their sister, their younger sister, in a tragic event. Every case is different. We have to take into consideration every case. I have years of experience as a Cheyenne Wyoming wrongful death attorney. Call us for a free consultation and we’ll look at your case.

In Wyoming, wrongful death cases are somewhat limited in that you’re not able to collect from that actual pain and suffering of the individual as they die, which sometimes is significant in these cases. I had a burn case. The suffering of the person who died was very significant, but you’re not able to collect that anymore. All you’re able to collect is the loss of care, comfort, and society to the family members, what they lost from that person. If you have a family member that hasn’t seen the decedent for many years and not had any communication for many years, that’s less of a loss than a spouse who sees the person every day has that loss of the care, comfort, and society of that person. Also, you need to take into consideration the economic loss of that person’s income to every particular member of the family. The whole family may have a claim, but it’s limited by the fact that it’s only loss of the care, comfort, and society or the actual financial contribution of the decedent. Those are the kinds of things that come into the equation of what is a loss in a wrongful death.

The most recent wrongful death case I tried was a wrongful death case from a truck running into the back of someone and killing the passenger in which I represented the family. The family was not even living in the same state as the decedent. Though the family lived in another state and didn’t have contact all the time, about once a year they had real contact. We were still able to regain because the contact was significant at those once-a-year events. We were able to get a pretty good recovery from the jury in that case, plus we also had another factor of punitive damages against the driver who had driven off and left the people to die. That was a significant factor in case. All those things are taken into account when we evaluate a wrongful death case. We have to look at your case, so certainly feel free to call us at our office in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Wrongful death cases in Wyoming take some time to resolve, of course. Part of the time needed is to prepare, and of course, there’s a very short statute of limitations of two years on a wrongful death case. The sooner we get to work on a case like that, the better chance we have to preserve the evidence and gather evidence. You’re looking at from the time that we get the case until the end of the case somewhere between a year and three years in a wrongful death case because of the time it takes to prepare; and of course, we have to file suit fairly soon because of the short statute of limitations. We have to take all that into account. If the case is in a federal court, once it’s filed, we’ll be at trial between nine and twelve months or settle the case during that period of time. In state court, it’s slower, unfortunately. It will probably be somewhere between two years and three years if the case resolves, so it depends on what kind of court you’re in. Of course, our philosophy is we prepare the case as if we’re going to try the case, because you may very well have to try the case. If you’re going to get an accurate settlement, a real settlement on the other side, you have to be prepared to try the case. Always keep that in mind, and feel free to call us at our office in Cheyenne, Wyoming.