Utah Wrongful Death Lawyer
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When a loved one dies because of someone else’s negligence, families are often left facing difficult questions. Who will cover the funeral expenses? Can the family pursue compensation? What happens next?
A wrongful death claim may help eligible family members recover damages after a fatal car crash, workplace incident, medical error, or another incident caused by wrongful conduct.
Cockayne Law investigates what happened, communicates with insurers, and helps families understand their legal options during a difficult time.
Call For a Free Consultation: (801) 268-2491
When Can You File a Wrongful Death Claim in Utah?
Utah lets a family bring a wrongful death claim when someone dies because of someone else’s wrongful act or neglect. Most of the time that means negligence. A driver blows through a red light on State Street.
A nursing home stops repositioning a resident for weeks. If carelessness like that caused the death, there may be a claim. Criminal charges are a separate matter.
Plenty of fatal crashes never lead to a prosecution, and the family can still sue. The civil standard is also lower: you have to show it is more likely than not the other side caused the death, rather than proving it beyond a reasonable doubt.
Deadlines are what people miss. The Utah filing window is short, and the claims against a city, UTA, or a hospital have their own rules and can be shorter still.
If you are wondering whether you have a case, ask a lawyer before the wondering costs you something.
Types of Wrongful Death Cases We Handle
Fatal accidents happen in a lot of ways, and the case looks different depending on what killed your family member. Here are some situations we get called about.
Fatal Car and Truck Accidents
Car crashes are the biggest part of the wrongful death claims we take. Sometimes the other driver was drunk on their phone. Sometimes they fell asleep at the wheel.
A semi makes it bigger because the trucking company may share the blame, and the driver’s logs and onboard data can get overwritten if no one sends a preservation letter fast.
Fatal Motorcycle, Bicycle, and Pedestrian Accidents
The motorcycle and pedestrian take the full force of the crash, and the story is usually that they never saw the person. Insurers will also try to say the victim was partly at fault.
We pull traffic and business camera footage and talk to witnesses before memories fade.
Fatal Workplace and Construction Accidents
When a worker dies on the job, the family can usually collect workers’ comp death benefits. That doesn’t always close the door on a lawsuit.
If someone besides the employer played a part, like a general contractor, a property owner, or a maker of a faulty machine, the family may be able to sue them separately.
Medical Malpractice and Nursing Home Negligence
If a nurse gives the wrong medication to a patient or a doctor misses a heart attack and sends a patient home and the patient dies, the family has a medical malpractice claim.
The same goes for a nursing home where a bed sore goes untreated until they become a fatal infection. Any of these can lead to a wrongful death claim. Utah has its own rules for suing health care providers, and you will need a medical expert to show what should have been done differently.
Defective Products and Other Fatal Incidents
If a tire blew out, an airbag failed, or a drug was recalled after the fact, the manufacturer or seller may be responsible. We also take cases involving dangerous property like an unfenced pool and crashes caused by someone a bar kept serving after they had too much. Don’t see your situation here? Call us, and we’ll walk it through.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Utah?
A wrongful death lawsuit in Utah is filed by a deceased person’s heirs or a personal representative of the deceased estate acting for the heir. Who counts as an heir depends on who survived.
It’s usually a spouse and children, and in some families, the parents. If no personal representative has been appointed yet, that has to happen first, which requires a court filing.
Relatives don’t always agree on who should handle it. Let’s connect with a personal injury lawyer before anyone files anything.
How Do You Prove Liability in a Utah Wrongful Death Case?
To win a wrongful death case in Utah based on negligence, the person bringing the claim generally has to prove four things. The defendant owed the person who died a duty of care. They breached that duty. The breach caused the death. And the death resulted in real, legally recognized damages.
What it takes to prove those points depends on how the death happened. In a fatal crash, the case may rely on traffic-camera footage, witness statements, or an accident reconstruction. In a medical malpractice case, it usually comes down to expert testimony explaining what the standard of care required and how the provider’s failure to meet it led to the death.
Establishing Negligence or Wrongful Conduct
Two questions take up most of the work: what did the defendant do wrong, and did it kill the person? The first is usually easier. A driver ran a light, or a facility skipped the safety check, and the police report or record says so.
The second gets argued. The defense will say the person was already sick or that something else caused the death. And that’s when we bring in an accident reconstructionist or a medical expert. Drunk or otherwise reckless conduct makes the claim stronger.
Identifying Potentially Responsible Parties
The driver is rarely the only one. In a truck crash, the company that dispatched the driver and the other that loaded the cargo may share the blame.
On a job site, it could be a subcontractor the family has never heard of. We figure out who controls the vehicle, the property, or the work, since every added party can mean more insurance coverage.
Preserving Evidence and Documenting the Fatal Incident
The video gets recorded over. The wrecked vehicles get sold for scrap. We send a preservation letter early and pull the police report, photos, witness statements, and medical records.
You can help by writing down what you remember now and keeping everything you have, even the stuff that seems small.
What Compensation Can Families Recover in a Utah Wrongful Death Case?
Wrongful death compensation in Utah covers money your family lost and things money can’t replace. What a case is worth depends on who died, who relied on them, and how much insurance is available.
We can’t give you a number before we look at your facts, and anyone who does is guessing.
Financial Support and Other Economic Losses
This is the income and benefits your loved one would have provided if they had lived, plus the value of work they did at home, like childcare, cooking, or keeping up the house. For someone with decades of work ahead of them, the total can be substantial.
Insurers tend to lowball it when nobody puts a number behind it, so we bring in an economist to project it. Medical bills from the injury that led to the death can belong here too.
Loss of Companionship, Care, and Guidance
A child loses a parent. A spouse loses a partner. Utah law recognizes those losses, even though no figure can replace them. They are harder to document than a paycheck, so we spend time learning who this person was and what the house is like without them.
Funeral Expenses and Factors Affecting Compensation
Funeral and burial costs are recoverable, so keep every receipt. Beyond that, no two cases settle the same way. Age, earning history, the number of dependents, how clear the fault is, and the coverage available all move the outcome.
If your loved one shares some of the blame, that can reduce the recovery. Claims against health care providers can carry their own limits on certain damages.
COME BACK STRONGER
After Accident
Call For a Free Consultation: (801) 268-2491
Wrongful Death Claim vs. Survival Action in Utah
Our Utah wrongful death attorneys look at both from the start, so nothing is left on the table.
Wrongful Death Claim | Survival Action | |
Whose claim is it? | The surviving family (heirs) | The deceased person’s estate |
What it covers | The family’s losses: financial support, companionship, guidance, funeral costs | What your loved one lost between the injury and death: medical bills, lost wages, and, in some cases, pain and suffering |
Who brings it? | Heirs, or a personal representative on their behalf | The estate’s personal representative |
When it matters most | Every fatal case | Cases where the person lived for a period before dying |
If your loved one died right away, the wrongful death claim may be the main case. If they spent days or weeks in the hospital, the survival action can add real value.
How a Utah Wrongful Death Attorney Can Help Your Family
Hiring a lawyer takes the legwork off your family so you can grieve. Here is what Cockayne Law does once you call.
Investigating the Fatal Incident
We start by finding out what exactly happened. That means pulling the police and incident report, sending the preservation letter so video and vehicle data are not lost, and talking to the witness. When the cause of the case is disputed, we bring in an expert, like an accident reconstructionist or medical reviewer.
Evaluating Damages and Available Insurance Coverage
Next, we work out what the claim is worth. The income your loved one would have earned, the loss of their companionship, and the funeral cost. We also check what coverage exists from every responsible party, since the at-fault driver’s policy is sometimes not the only one.
Negotiating With Insurance Companies
Adjusters often call within days, sounding sympathetic and asking for a recorded statement. You don’t have to give one. We handle those conversations so you don’t have to, and we don’t accept an offer until we know what the case is worth.
Filing a Lawsuit and Preparing for Trial
If an insurer won’t make a fair offer, we file suit and prepare the case for trial. Many cases settle before then, but the insurer can tell whether a firm is ready to go to court.
What Should You Do After Losing a Loved One in a Fatal Accident?
You don’t have to think about a lawsuit in the first few days, but a few things are worth doing early.
Keep the police report number and any paperwork from the insurance company. Photos and text from the day matter too. If you remember something about what happened, write it down now, along with who was there.
And if your loved one’s car or phone is still around, leave it alone until a lawyer looks at it. Be careful with paperwork. Insurers sometimes send a release or ask for a recorded statement within days.
Don’t sign or agree to anything until a lawyer has read it because a release can end your claim for good.
Then ask about deadlines. Utah filing windows are short, and some are shorter still.
Why Choose Cockayne Law for a Utah Wrongful Death Claim?
Cockayne Law is a Utah personal injury firm led by attorney Chris Cockayne. With 10+ years of experience handling serious injury or wrongful death cases. We investigate fatal accidents, work with accident reconstructionists and medical experts, and take cases to trial when insurers won’t offer compensation.
You’ll speak with an attorney directly, and we return calls as soon as possible. Your first consultation is free, and we also work on a contingency fee basis, so you don’t pay until we win your case.
Call For a Free Consultation: (801) 268-2491
Speak With a Utah Wrongful Death Lawyer at Cockayne Law
You don’t have to figure everything out before you call. Bring what you have, even its just a police report number and a few questions. We’ll listen to what happened and tell you honestly whether your family has a claim and explain what the next few weeks look like. The consultation is free, and there is no obligation to hire us.
Call Cockayne Law at (801) 268-2491 or send a message; we’ll get back to you shortly.
FAQs
You pay nothing to get started. We work on a contingency fee basis, so our fees come out of whatever we recover for your family. If there’s no recovery, there’s no attorney fee. Case expenses get explained in writing before you sign anything.
Yes, because a wrongful death claim is a civil case that stands on its own. Plenty of fatal crashes never lead to charges, and even an acquittal doesn’t close the door. A civil jury only has to find it more likely than not that the defendant caused the death.
It lowers what the family collects. If a jury puts 20 percent of the blame on your loved one, the award drops by 20%. Utah also cuts off recovery once the person’s share of the blame gets high enough. Insurers lean on this argument, so don’t accept this version of the event.
Yes, but the money comes from somewhere else. You can sue the driver, though someone without insurance rarely has much to collect. Look at your loved one’s own uninsured motorist coverage first and at whether a second party, like an employer or the car owner, shares the blame.
[Legal Disclaimer]
This page provides general information about car accident claims in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is not legal advice. Every case is different. For your case-specific guidance, consult a qualified attorney.
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Our Locations
6671 S Redwood Rd Ste 110, West Jordan, UT 84084, United States
574 E 1400 S, Orem, UT 84097, United States
2650 Washington Blvd, Ogden, UT 84401, United States
Areas Of Services
- kearns
- magna
- Salt Lake City
- rose park
- West valley city
- Provo Utah
- taylorsville
- west jordan
- Ogden & Weber
