Motorcyclist dies after crash

A Colorado Springs motorcyclist died last Friday after being in a motorcycle crash on Wednesday.  The accident happened when a car made a turn right in front of him.

This accident is one which draws out an important aspect of Illinois wrongful death suits.  When someone dies as a result of an accident, there are actually two components of the wrongful death case: the wrongful death action and the survival action. 

The wrongful death action is intended to compensate the deceased next of kin for their losses resulting from the death.  There are three main categories to this: the loss of the family relationship, the loss of economic support, and grief.

The survival action is intended to compensate the estate of the deceased for injuries sustained prior to death.  Medical expenses, lost wages, and conscious pain and suffering are the main components of the survival action.

As experienced Chicago personal injury lawyers, one thing that we would do to help establish the damages in the survival action is to locate witnesses who could testify to what happened in the aftermath of the accident.   This may include interviewing responding emergency personnel and locating other people who came to the scene after the accident.  We also review the medical records closely to see what evidence of pain and suffering is being documented in the hospital chart. During depositions, we always try to elicit testimony on this subject from the defendant.

It's sometimes really morbid work, but it is important if we are going to make sure that the family of our deceased client is going to be properly compensated for their losses.