Ylla Gosney, Attorneys at Law can help you and your family through the aftermath of losing a loved one in a fatal car accident in Norman. It’s incredibly difficult to think about, but any car accident can end up being fatal under certain conditions. That doesn’t make what you and your family are left with any easier, but our team will be there to support you all. Set up a free consultation today.
Do We Need a Lawyer After a Fatal Car Accident?
When you lose someone close to you in a car accident, getting a lawyer is probably the last thing on your mind. Your focus is where it should be: telling family members what happened, making funeral arrangements, helping each other through the loss, and simply trying to get through each day. That’s understandable.
Still, there often comes a point when practical questions start to come up:
- What exactly happened?
- Who was responsible?
- How are we supposed to handle the medical bills, funeral expenses, and loss of income?
- What happens if the insurance company calls?
Those questions can quickly become overwhelming, especially when you’re already dealing with grief. That’s where getting a lawyer starts to make more sense. help. Our team is here to make things easier for you and your family by:
- Looking into the underlying cause of the accident
- Getting evidence and documentation together
- Figuring out who might be responsible
- Handling any back-and-forth with insurance companies
- Explaining your options in plain language
Every family and every fatal car accident is different. What stays the same is that you shouldn’t feel like you have to carry everything on your own while trying to process such a loss. Our team can take that on for you, allowing you the space to grieve and focus on each other.
Information That Can Help Your Family After a Fatal Car Accident
The hours and days after a fatal car accident are usually a blur. Like most families, you’re not going to remember much beyond phone calls, hospital visits, and trying to make sense of what happened.
Because of that, it’s completely understandable if gathering information isn’t your first priority. But the fact remains that there is going to be certain pieces of information that’s going to help you in this situation, like:
- The police report from the Norman Police Department (NPD) or Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP). This has important details from the scene that you’re not going to be able to get yourself, like:
- What the responding officers saw
- The time, date and exact location
- What any bystanders or witnesses saw
- Whether there were any tickets or citations given out
- Confirmation of any injuries or fatalities at the scene
- Pictures/videos of the vehicles, roadway, debris, and damage. Even if you weren’t there when the accident happened, these can give us a better idea of what the scene looked like afterward. Some of this may be in the police report, but we can also see if any witnesses or bystanders took pictures or videos.
- Statements from anyone who saw the accident. Witnesses can sometimes give us a much better idea of what happened before, during, and after the accident, especially if their version of events doesn’t match what the other driver is saying.
- Camera footage from nearby businesses, intersections, or traffic cameras. This can be some of the most useful evidence because it may actually show what happened. The problem is that this footage doesn’t always stick around, so it may need to be requested pretty quickly before it gets deleted or recorded over.
- Medical records, death certificates, or autopsy reports. These can help show how the accident led to your loved one’s death and document the medical treatment and expenses that came afterward.
Obviously, every situation is different. But what you and your family need to focus on right now is each other, not trying to track down every single piece of evidence from the accident. Usually, a few pictures and basic records are enough to get things started. Our team can take it from there and work on filling in the gaps.
How the Claims Process Works After a Fatal Car Accident
There’s a claims process that comes after any car accident in Norman, even one that ends up being fatal. But as you might expect, a fatal car accident works a bit differently. Instead of a regular injury claim, it results in a wrongful death claim. These have two major differences:
- Who can file? In Oklahoma, only the personal representative of the estate can file a wrongful death claim. That’s usually a person named in a will, but if there isn’t a will (and there usually isn’t in a fatal car accident), a judge can appoint someone to file it.
With that taken care of, things move forward as usual. Most of the time, this happens in a wrongful death lawsuit, but there’s also certain situations where there’s an insurance policy in place and your family can try to handle things outside of court. Again, though, with everything your family is up against, a lawsuit is typically a better option because of the damages that are available.
- What the damages are. In a wrongful death claim, the other major difference is the damages. Instead of being built around your injuries, they’re built around what your family has been left with. That usually includes things like:
- Funeral and burial expenses
- Medical expenses related to the accident
- Loss of financial support
- Loss of services and other contributions your loved one provided
- Loss of companionship and other relationship-related damages
A wrongful death claim can’t undo what happened or fill the space left by your loved one’s absence. But practically speaking, it may provide financial stability during an incredibly difficult time and help keep your surviving family members from being left with the financial burden caused by someone else’s actions.
Who Pays For Damages After a Fatal Car Accident?
One of the biggest questions after any fatal accident is who should be held responsible. That doesn’t change with a car accident. It still comes down to negligence. This means:
- Someone either did something or failed to do something that led to the accident and the death of your loved one.
So that part isn’t necessarily different from a regular car accident, except for one huge detail: the stakes are obviously much higher when the accident is fatal. With that, liability might involve:
- The driver who caused the accident
- The owner of the vehicle
- An employer if the driver was working at the time
- A vehicle manufacturer if a defective part contributed to the collision
- Another party whose actions or negligence contributed to the crash
- A government agency in certain situations involving unsafe roadway conditions
Like any car accident, liability doesn’t always fall on one person or group of people. Instead, it’s usually spread around multiple people. Everything depends on the details of the particular accident, though.
Causes of Fatal Car Accidents in Norman
Norman has a lot going on. With the University of Oklahoma here and people coming in and out of the city every day, there are plenty of cars on the road. And unfortunately, that means serious car accidents happen here, too.
A fatal accident can happen anywhere, but some of the busier roads and highways in Norman naturally see a lot of traffic, including:
- Interstate 35
- Highway 9
- 24th Avenue
- Main Street
- Lindsey Street
- Robinson Street
- Porter Avenue
Of course, the location of the accident is only part of the story. In many cases, the bigger question is what caused the crash in the first place. Some of the more common causes include:
- Drunk or impaired driving
- Speeding
- Distracted driving
- Driver fatigue
- Aggressive or reckless driving
- Vehicle problems
- Poorly maintained roads or signs
No matter what the underlying cause of the fatal accident is, what you and your family are left with is always the same: questions and pain. A wrongful death claim won’t fix that, but it will help everyone move forward. And our team will be there from the start.
Talk With Our Norman Fatal Car Accident Lawyers
Car accidents happen every day in Norman, but when they’re fatal, it leaves families facing questions and challenges that they never expected. That’s a lot to handle on your own. Our Norman fatal car accident lawyers at Ylla Gosney, Attorneys at Law can help you and your family get answers about what happened, understand your options, and figure out what comes next. Set up a free consultation today.