Sarasota Wrongful Death Lawyer
This page is written for a bad week
If you are reading this within days of losing someone, you do not need a sales pitch. You need to know what has to happen and what can wait.
Almost nothing has to happen this week. There is no deadline that expires in the first days, and the decisions that matter are better made once the funeral is behind you. What follows is here so that when you are ready, the process is not also a mystery.
My name is David Harris. I have handled these claims in Sarasota County since 2003, and they are the ones I take fewest of at a time.
The claim belongs to the estate, not to the family
This is the structural point that surprises almost everyone, and it explains much of what follows.
Wrongful Death
Wrongful death is a legal claim brought by surviving family members when a loved one dies because of someone else’s negligence. A wrongful death lawyer in Sarasota can pursue compensation for funeral costs, lost income, and loss of companionship.
So a probate step usually comes first: someone has to be appointed. If there is a will naming a personal representative, that is generally who serves. If there is not, Florida law sets an order. It is administrative rather than adversarial, and it is the reason a wrongful death claim often appears to sit still for its first weeks.
Who the statute lets recover
Section 768.21 sets out who the survivors are and what each may claim. In broad terms:
- A surviving spouse may recover for loss of companionship and protection, and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury
- Minor children may recover for lost parental companionship, instruction and guidance, and for their own mental pain and suffering
- Parents of a deceased minor child may recover for mental pain and suffering
- Survivors who were dependent on the deceased for support or services may recover the value of what was lost
- The estate itself may recover lost earnings, lost prospective net accumulations, and medical and funeral expenses it has paid
The categories are narrower than most families expect, and the boundaries turn on facts like age and dependency rather than on closeness. Explaining that honestly early is better than discovering it late.
The crash still has to be proved
Negligence
Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care, such as texting while driving or ignoring a spill on a store floor. Personal injury claims are built on proving that someone’s negligence directly caused your injuries.
Fault
Fault is a legal term describing who is responsible for causing an accident. Proving that another driver, property owner, or business was at fault is essential to recovering money for your injuries and losses.
The evidence has the same shelf life it always does, and it decays while the family is grieving:
- Roadway evidence measured at the scene and then washed away
- Vehicle event data recorders, overwritten or lost when the vehicle is released
- Camera footage from businesses along the corridor, overwritten within one to two weeks
- Witness accounts recorded only in a crash report that section 316.066 keeps confidential for sixty days, except to the people involved and their representatives
Preserving those is work that can be done without involving the family in anything difficult.
Where these cases come from here
The fatal crashes in this county are not evenly spread. They concentrate on the fast roads: Interstate 75 and its interchanges, Clark Road, the long signal-free stretches of the Tamiami Trail south of the city, and the US 301 corridor. Motorcyclists, pedestrians and cyclists are heavily over-represented, because there is nothing between them and the impact.
A crash on the interstate or a state road is investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol; elsewhere in the unincorporated county it is the Sheriff's Office. Fatal crashes draw a traffic homicide investigator, whose report is more detailed than an ordinary one and takes considerably longer to produce.
How I handle them
Quietly, and with as little demand on the family as the case allows. I would rather gather what I can from the agencies and the scene than ask a grieving household to relive the day for my benefit. When something does require a decision from you, I will explain the options and what each one costs.
There is no fee unless there is a recovery, and there is no charge for the conversation that decides whether to go further.
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What Our Clients Say
"At a stop light, major rear-end crash by truck, 2 surgeries. A horrific experience. Add the complications of Florida no fault law and the big corporations involved the medical community, TV advertised attorneys and insurance companies. It’s important to have someone on your side… David knows the system and beats the greed. The success he brought has changed our lives."
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