Wrongful death lawsuits may be filed against a person or an entity, such as a city. They are not always filed against just another person.
Wrongful death lawsuits are not always filed against another person. They may be filed against a city, town or municipality or company. The best example of that is the fiasco that was the New York blizzard in December 2010. The city did not know what hit it and citizens in distress found out about that the hard way.
Unfortunately, there were at least two wrongful deaths as a result of that major storm. The second lawsuit was just brought recently by a family in Brooklyn who waited an hour and a half for an ambulance crew to come and help their mother. The woman had chest pains and before the EMS crews could get to her, she died.
She was only 63 years old at the time of her death and the family cannot understand why emergency medical help took 90 minutes to arrive. But for the slow response time, the woman may well have survived her heart attack. The ambulance could not get through the snow-packed streets any quicker. Or could they? This was the question the family took to their personal injury lawyer to discuss a wrongful death lawsuit.
Once the attorney knew the full scope of the case, his response to the family left them no doubt that they would file a wrongful death lawsuit stating that fire, police, transportation and the sanitation departments were at fault for the deadly delay that cost a woman her life. The lawsuit is seeking $20 million in damages. In part, the papers filed with the wrongful death lawsuit state that there is no excuse for a 90-minute delay when it comes to emergency response personnel.
The second wrongful death lawsuit was on the behalf of a 75-year-old woman who waited for three hours for an ambulance. She did not make it, either. The finger of blame was then squarely pointed at the city and its lack of organized response to the unholy dump of snow that turned New York into a living nightmare.
Things could have been worse, but in retrospect, no one would have wanted that to happen. It was a series of horrific events that cost two women their lives, when EMS crews could not reach them in time. And of all things to cause a delay, it was a severe snowstorm that the city did not know how to handle and could not seem to get on top of. What was the department responsible for snow removal thinking?
Ultimately, the person in charge of handling the snow removal was demoted. Sadly, that will not bring either of the dead women back, but the courts may well find negligence and award compensation for each family’s devastating loss.
This kind of thing could happen in another state, city, town, municipality or county, and that is why, if you have been in a situation similar to this and someone you loved died as a result, you should take the time to contact an Atlanta personal injury lawyer and discover what your legal rights are in that situation.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.