Juneau Wrongful Death Lawyer

The Brown Law Firm can help you and your family through something nobody wants to face: a wrongful death claim in Juneau. There’s nothing more difficult than losing someone you love in an accident, but there’s also realities about the situation that the claims process can help with. Our team can guide your family through it from start to finish. Set up a free consultation today to talk it over.

How Our Lawyers Help With a Wrongful Death Claim

After losing someone in a fatal accident, the last thing most families want is to start dealing with insurance companies, paperwork, and legal questions. But those things usually don’t wait. An insurance company may already be looking at the accident and trying to protect its policyholder.

Having someone on your side can help you avoid feeling pressured while you’re still dealing with the loss. We can help do that by:

• Looking closely at how the accident happened
• Getting police reports, medical records, witness statements, photos, and other evidence
• Figuring out who may be legally responsible
• Dealing with insurance companies on your family’s behalf
• Tallying the losses connected to your loved one’s death
• Filing the claim and keep the process moving

The goal isn’t to make your family’s situation more complicated. It’s the opposite. You shouldn’t have to figure out a complicated legal claim while you’re grieving. When you work with our team, it gives your family the space to focus on each other and move forward.

What Kinds of Fatal Accidents Happen in Juneau?

The difficult thing about fatal accidents is that they usually happen during ordinary parts of life. You’re driving home. Walking across the street. Going to work. Spending time on somebody else’s property. And then something happens that changes your family forever. Typically, they happen in:

• Car accidents. Roads like Egan Drive, Glacier Highway, Douglas Highway, and Thane Road can see serious accidents when drivers speed, drive distracted, drive impaired, or otherwise act carelessly.
• Motorcycle accidents. Motorcycle riders can be especially vulnerable when another driver doesn’t see them, turns in front of them, or fails to give them enough room.
• Pedestrian accidents. A driver who fails to yield, runs a light, or isn’t paying attention can cause devastating injuries to someone walking near a roadway.
• Truck accidents. Commercial trucks are much larger and heavier than passenger vehicles, which means a collision can have devastating consequences.
• Workplace accidents. Construction sites, industrial jobs, and other workplaces can become dangerous when employers, contractors, or other responsible parties fail to follow safety requirements.
• Unsafe property conditions. Falls, dangerous conditions, and other accidents on someone else’s property can sometimes lead to a wrongful death claim when the property owner or another responsible party failed to address the danger.

Weather can also play a role in Juneau accidents. Rain, snow, ice, and poor visibility can all make driving and maintaining property more difficult. But bad weather doesn’t automatically excuse negligence. The circumstances still matter. With any of these situations, you and your family are left dealing with the terrible loss of someone you love. And while it’s something no family wants to go through, it does point to responsibility.

Who Pays For Damages With a Wrongful Death Claim?

Wrongful death claims feel a lot heavier than a normal injury claim for obvious reasons. But at least legally, the way the law puts legal responsibility on someone is the same as any other accident: negligence.

In simple terms, it’s about looking at:

• Whether somebody did something they shouldn’t have done
• Failed to do something they should have done
• Whether that caused the accident and your loved one’s death

With that, paying for damages might fall on a:

• Distracted, impaired, or reckless driver
• Commercial truck driver or trucking company
• Property owner or management who failed to address a dangerous condition
• Company that made a defective vehicle, machine, or product
• Government agency in certain situations involving dangerous conditions

Sometimes there’s one obvious person responsible, like a drunk driver. Other times, there are several people or companies involved. One person blames another. An insurance company points to somebody else. Everybody starts passing the blame around. That can make things more confusing, but it doesn’t change your family’s overall options when it comes to filing a claim.

How a Wrongful Death Claim Actually Works in Juneau

One of the hardest decisions after a fatal accident is deciding whether to pursue a legal claim at all. That hesitation makes sense. Your family is already dealing with enough. But again, there’s certain realities that come with a fatal accident that a wrongful death claim is designed to help with.

With that said, though, the way it works is a bit different. In Juneau (and throughout Alaska) only the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate can file it on behalf of the family. That’s usually someone that’s named in a will. If there isn’t one, a probate court will usually appoint a close family member to file it.

From there, though, the claims process looks more familiar. It happens through either:

• An insurance claim and settlement negotiations outside of court, or
• A wrongful death lawsuit

Once the claim is filed, the other big difference comes in: damages. Instead of being built around the injury itself, they’re tied to the losses that your family has gone through. That usually includes:

• Medical expenses related to the final injury
• Funeral expenses
• Lost financial support or benefits
• Loss of assistance or services
• Loss of companionship
• Loss of prospective training and education
• Other losses connected to the death

There’s one other important thing to remember here. Alaska generally gives you two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death claim, although exceptions can apply. That might sound like plenty of time, but it can go quickly. There’s an investigation to do, evidence to gather, insurance companies to deal with, and potentially a lawsuit to prepare. That’s why it makes sense to get started sooner rather than later.

What Makes Building a Wrongful Death Claim Different?

This is probably one of the harder parts of a wrongful death case. You’re still trying to process the loss, and now someone is asking you for documents, records, photographs, and other evidence. But that information matters.

It helps tell the story of what happened to your loved one and, more importantly, why it happened. Some of the things that can help build a wrongful death claim include:

• Death certificate or coroner’s reports. They’re hard to look at, but these documents can help officially show when your loved one died and the cause of death.
• Accident reports. Police reports, workplace reports, and other incident reports can give us the first official explanation of what happened.
• Medical records. Hospital records, emergency treatment records, and other medical information can help connect the fatal injuries to the accident.
• Witness statements. People who were nearby may have seen or heard things that never made it into the initial report.
• Pictures/videos. Security footage, traffic cameras, dashcams, cellphone video, and photos from the accident scene can all become important.
• Employment and financial records. These can help show what your loved one earned, what benefits they had, and the financial support they provided to your family.

Most families aren’t going to have all of this sitting in a folder. And honestly, they shouldn’t be expected to. Part of our job is gathering this information, organizing it, and using it to build a claim that actually shows what happened and what your family has lost.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do we have to file a wrongful death claim?

In Alaska, the general deadline is two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death action. There are exceptions that can change the deadline in certain situations, so it’s important to look at the specific facts of your case.

Do we need criminal charges to file a wrongful death claim?

No. A wrongful death claim is a civil claim, which is separate from a criminal case. You don’t need criminal charges for your family to pursue a wrongful death claim if the facts support one.

Will our family have to go to court?

Not necessarily. Many wrongful death cases are resolved through a settlement with the insurance company or other responsible parties. But we still prepare the case as if it may need to go to court. That puts your family in a better position if settlement negotiations don’t work out.

The Brown Law Firm Can Help Your Family Through a Juneau Wrongful Death Claim

There’s no easy way through losing someone you love after a fatal accident in Juneau. What there can be, though, is someone to help you figure out what comes next. Our wrongful death lawyers at The Brown Law Firm will be there to help your family sort through what happened, answer your questions, and walk you through your options. Set up a free consultation today to get started.