Ohio Wrongful Death Attorney: Do I Have a Case?

Columbus Lawyer Explains Experience With Wrongful Death Lawsuits

Video Transcript: 

Michelle Martin:

We call it wrongful, of course, because we're saying that their death or their life was cut short by that person's negligence.

Tom Mustin: 

The phrase "wrongful death" sounds pretty straightforward, but what does it mean inside the legal world? We're gonna talk to Attorney Michelle Martin about that on today's Ask The Lawyer. Michelle, thanks for joining us.

Michelle Martin: 

Thank you so much for having me, Tom.

Tom Mustin: 

Michelle, so let's start off by asking the question, what is wrongful death?

Michelle Martin: 

Great question. So a wrongful death is when, of course, someone's death is caused by the negligent actions of another party, and we call it wrongful, of course, because we're saying that their death or their life was cut short by that person's negligence.

Tom Mustin: 

So is a wrongful death case different than a catastrophic injury case?

Michelle Martin: 

It can be. A catastrophic loss case or a catastrophic injury case doesn't always include a wrongful death. However, most wrongful deaths stem from a catastrophic injury or catastrophic loss. A catastrophic injury is just... It means a disastrous or really bad injury. Typically, those are the incidences where you see where there's permanent damage, you see disability, you see some paralysis and things like that, and you know that this is gonna be a heavy case.

Tom Mustin: 

And I know that you've handled some wrongful death cases. Can you give us some examples of some of the cases that you have handled?

Michelle Martin: 

Absolutely. I handled some police shooting cases. I've handled some drowning cases. I've handled, of course, lots of motor vehicle accident cases that resulted in the death of another party. I've handled premises liability cases where someone was injured and then subsequently died from injuries that were caused by being on negligent premises, whether it'd be from some type of slip and fall, or whether it'd be from some type of abnormally dangerous activity like an amusement park.

Tom Mustin: 

So talk about some of the challenges of actually proving wrongful death.

Michelle Martin: 

Well, of course, the biggest challenge is that you don't have a client. You don't have a client who can tell you exactly what happened. You don't have... Typically, in incident or injury cases, there involves two people; the victim and the tortfeasor or the culpable party. And of course, the victim in a wrongful death is not around to tell their story. They're not around to tell you what happened. They're typically not around to tell you aftermath, but you have the tortfeasor, the person who caused the incident, who of course, is going to be very... In a trauma, PTSD, a post-traumatic stress disorder type of state, a traumatic response. Then they're, of course, trying to cover their tracks. They're feeling heavy guilt about the incident and what's happened. So the story can just get very murky and it can just be difficult to figure out, how do you clearly tell the story of a person who's not around to tell their story?

Tom Mustin: 

And that may also be an issue when it comes to damages. What do you do in that case?

Michelle Martin: 

Absolutely. And that's a great question. And a lot of people don't think about that. How do you quantify the life of a person? How do you... And you're quantifying that... 'Cause there's no true number that's ever gonna fit. You can never bring the person back, so how do you even satisfy those persons who are suffering from the loss of their loved one? Because when you're recovering for a wrongful death, you're recovering on behalf of the person who was harmed, but you're also recovering for their estate and their loved ones and what has been lost. And so in doing that, trying to calculate what the damages are, you have to take a snapshot of a whole person's life and try to put that together and forecast what it is that has been lost and that can be very difficult to prove.

Tom Mustin: 

And you've answered that question greatly, and you sort of touched on this too, but tell us why it's so important to have an experienced wrongful death attorney.

Michelle Martin: 

Well, because you wanna get the correct team in place and you wanna get them onboard early on. You want someone who knows the laws, who's comfortable with the probate courts because that's gonna be a huge part of it that has either a probate arm in their law firm or has an attorney who they have a good relationship with or has a very firm understanding of probate laws. Because you're gonna have to reach out to the folks who have lost their loved ones. It's difficult to figure out who are all the family members, who's the next of kin, who has authority to speak on behalf of the decedent, and so you're gonna wanna give someone who's knowledgeable about how to move and when to move. Because at the same time that you're trying to put that family on notice and make sure that you're getting all the loved ones brought up to speed, you're also investigating in the case matter and trying to make sure that you don't lose any of the evidence, and that you preserve every piece of evidence that you can because your client is no longer... Your decedent is... Your client is dead at this point.

Michelle Martin: 

And so, and I know that sounds harsh, but it's a wrongful death, so you have to work fast to speak and work on that person's behalf, at the same time, you're consoling a family and you're trying to put everybody... Kinda bring everybody together to speak for a person that's no longer here and tell their story. It's very difficult.

Tom Mustin: 

Sure. Well, Michelle, we really appreciate you joining us today. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us.

Michelle Martin: 

Absolutely, anytime.

Tom Mustin: 

Thank you. That's gonna do it for this episode of Ask The Lawyer. My guest has been Michelle Martin. If you wanna ask Michelle about your situation, call the number on the screen. Thanks for watching. I'm Tom Mustin for Ask The Lawyers.

Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. In some states, this video may be deemed Attorney Advertising. The choice of lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.