Miami Wrongful Death Lawyer
No amount of money can replace a spouse, parent, child, or other loved one. A wrongful death case cannot undo what happened or put a family back in the position it occupied before a fatal accident.
What the civil justice system can do is hold a negligent person, corporation, trucking company, healthcare provider, or other responsible party accountable for the losses caused by a preventable death.
For a family, those losses are deeply personal. They can include the loss of financial support, household services, companionship, parental guidance, and the relationship that family members expected to share for years to come. When death follows a period of hospitalization or medical treatment, substantial medical and funeral expenses may also be involved.
Sotolongo Law represents families throughout Miami, Miami-Dade County, and South Florida in wrongful death cases arising from car accidents, commercial truck crashes, medical malpractice, premises liability, and other forms of negligence.
Miami wrongful death lawyer Pedro P. Sotolongo brings more than 20 years of personal injury legal experience to these cases. He also spent approximately five years practicing medical malpractice defense, giving him an understanding of medical evidence that can be particularly important when determining exactly how and why a person died, and who should be held accountable.
Florida’s Wrongful Death Act
Florida’s Wrongful Death Act provides a civil remedy when a person’s death results from a wrongful act, negligence, or medical malpractice that would have allowed the person to pursue a claim had death not occurred.
The distinction is important. A wrongful death case is not simply a personal injury case with greater damages. Florida law establishes specific rules governing who brings the action, who may benefit from it, and what categories of damages may be recovered.
The lawsuit is brought by the deceased person’s personal representative on behalf of the survivors and the estate. The personal representative may be named in the deceased person’s will. When necessary, one may be appointed through the probate process.
Florida law also requires the potential beneficiaries of the wrongful death recovery and their relationships to the deceased person to be identified in the lawsuit.
Wrongful Death Caused by Car Accidents
A fatal Miami car accident can happen in seconds. Speeding, distracted driving, impaired driving, running a red light, failing to yield, aggressive driving, and other negligent behavior can result in collisions from which occupants, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, or others do not survive.
The investigation needs to begin as quickly as possible. Physical evidence can disappear. Vehicles may be repaired, sold, or destroyed. Surveillance footage can be overwritten. Witnesses may become difficult to locate, and memories can fade.
A wrongful death investigation may involve photographs, vehicle damage, event data, cellphone evidence, surveillance or dash-camera footage, witness statements, police records, toxicology evidence, and accident reconstruction.
In a fatal accident, the person who could best describe what happened may no longer be available to tell the story. Building the case from independent evidence can therefore become especially important.
Fatal Commercial Truck Accidents
A collision with a tractor-trailer or other large commercial vehicle can produce catastrophic and fatal injuries because of the tremendous size and weight involved. The truck driver, however, may be only one part of the investigation.
Depending on the circumstances, potential responsibility may involve the motor carrier, an employer, maintenance company, cargo-loading contractor, or another business. Evidence can include electronic logging information, hours-of-service records, driver qualification materials, maintenance documents, onboard vehicle data, cellphone records, cargo information, and company safety policies.
Some of this evidence is controlled by the trucking company, and preserving it promptly can be an important part of investigating a fatal crash.
Sotolongo Law is prepared to pursue wrongful death claims against commercial carriers and their insurers while developing the evidence necessary to determine how the crash occurred and who should be held responsible.
Wrongful Death Caused by Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice wrongful death cases present an additional layer of complexity. A patient may die following a missed diagnosis, delayed treatment, surgical error, anesthesia complication, medication error, failure to recognize a deteriorating condition, or another medical event. But an unexpected death or poor medical outcome does not automatically establish malpractice. The legal and medical questions must be separated carefully.
Did a healthcare provider depart from the applicable professional standard of care? Did that departure cause the patient’s death? Would appropriate treatment probably have changed the outcome?
Answering those questions can require analysis of thousands of pages of medical records, diagnostic studies, laboratory results, medication records, operative reports, nursing documentation, and other evidence.
The timing of events can be critical. In a failure-to-diagnose case, for example, it may be necessary to determine when the condition should have been recognized, what treatment should have been provided at that point, and whether the patient probably would have survived with timely intervention.
Pedro P. Sotolongo spent approximately five years defending medical malpractice claims before representing injured patients and their families. That experience required him to learn the medicine behind complicated cases and work closely with medical experts.
When a family wants answers about whether a preventable medical error contributed to a loved one’s death, that background can be especially valuable.
Damages Available to Surviving Family Members
Florida’s Wrongful Death Act specifies the damages that may be recovered and which survivors may recover particular categories of damages.
Depending on the family relationship and circumstances, recoverable damages can include the value of lost support and services. The calculation can consider the deceased person’s probable income, the portion available to support particular survivors, the value of services the person provided, and the period over which that support or those services probably would have continued.
A surviving spouse may be able to recover for the loss of the deceased spouse’s companionship and protection as well as mental pain and suffering. Children, meanwhile, may have claims involving lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance and mental pain and suffering, subject to the provisions of Florida law applicable to the particular case. Parents may also have specified rights to damages following the wrongful death of a child.
The exact damages available depend on who survived the deceased person and the nature of the underlying claim. Those distinctions can be particularly important in medical malpractice wrongful death cases because Florida law contains specific provisions affecting certain survivor damages.
For that reason, families should not assume that every relative has the same legal rights or that damages are divided automatically in equal shares.
Damages Recoverable by the Estate
The deceased person’s estate may also have a claim for certain losses. Depending on the circumstances, the estate can potentially recover lost earnings from the date of injury to the date of death, subject to statutory deductions, and certain losses of prospective net accumulations. Medical or funeral expenses may also be recoverable by the survivor or estate that paid them.
These economic issues can become substantial when the person who died was a primary wage earner or had many expected working years remaining.
Evaluating those losses may require employment records, tax returns, information concerning benefits and career trajectory, and analysis by an economist or other financial expert.
But a wrongful death claim is about much more than income. A parent may provide childcare, transportation, home maintenance, cooking, household management, and countless other services that have real value even though no paycheck was attached to them. Understanding the family’s actual life before the death can therefore be essential to understanding what has been lost.
Proving What Happened When the Victim Cannot Testify
Wrongful death cases present an obvious evidentiary challenge: the person who experienced the accident or medical event cannot testify.
Defendants may have their own version of what happened. A negligent driver may claim that the deceased person caused the collision. A trucking company may dispute its driver’s responsibility. Healthcare providers may contend that the patient’s underlying disease, rather than a medical error, caused the death.
The investigation must speak for the person who cannot.
In an accident case, that may require physical evidence, electronic data, video, witness testimony, reconstruction, and expert analysis.
In a medical malpractice case, the answer may be found in the medical chart: vital signs, laboratory trends, imaging, physician orders, nursing observations, medications, operative findings, and the chronology of treatment.
Sotolongo Law’s experience with both serious personal injury litigation and medical malpractice helps the firm approach causation from both directions.
Families Need Answers as Well as Legal Representation
Families often come to a wrongful death lawyer with questions before they come with demands for compensation. They want to know what happened.
Why did the truck cross into their loved one’s lane? Why was the driver still behind the wheel? Why did no one respond when the patient’s condition deteriorated? Why was a diagnosis missed? Could the death have been prevented?
A civil investigation can sometimes provide answers that were not apparent in the immediate aftermath. That process should be handled with sensitivity. A family dealing with grief should not feel like another case number at a large-volume practice.
Sotolongo Law offers the personal attention of a boutique Miami law firm while being prepared to pursue cases against major insurance carriers, trucking companies, hospitals, healthcare providers, corporations, and other powerful defendants.
The firm also proudly serves Miami’s Spanish-speaking communities, including Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Argentinian, and other families throughout South Florida. Families should be able to discuss the death of someone they love, complicated medical evidence, and important legal decisions clearly and comfortably.
The Deadline for a Florida Wrongful Death Claim
Time is particularly important after a wrongful death. Florida generally provides a two-year statute of limitations for a wrongful death action. Medical malpractice claims are also governed by specialized limitations provisions, including rules concerning when the malpractice was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered, as well as other potential deadlines and exceptions.
Additional rules may apply depending on the defendant and circumstances.
The legal deadline is not the only reason to act promptly. Evidence may become harder to obtain long before the statute of limitations expires. Vehicles disappear. Electronic data may not be retained indefinitely. Video can be erased. Physical conditions can change. Witnesses relocate or forget details.
In medical malpractice cases, substantial time may also be required to obtain records, evaluate the medicine, consult appropriate experts, and comply with Florida’s presuit requirements.
Families do not need to decide immediately whether they want to pursue litigation. But obtaining legal advice early can help preserve their ability to make that decision later.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who files a wrongful death lawsuit in Florida?
Under Florida law, the deceased person’s personal representative brings the wrongful death action. The personal representative pursues the claim for the benefit of the survivors and estate entitled to damages under the Wrongful Death Act.
Who qualifies as a “survivor” in a Florida wrongful death case?
Florida’s Wrongful Death Act defines survivors to include specified family members and certain dependent relatives. The particular damages available depend on the survivor’s relationship to the deceased person and, in some situations, the type of underlying claim. An attorney can evaluate the family relationships to determine which statutory provisions apply.
How long do we have to file a Florida wrongful death lawsuit?
Florida generally imposes a two-year limitations period on wrongful death actions. However, calculating the applicable deadline can become more complicated in medical malpractice cases and certain other circumstances. Families should obtain case-specific legal advice rather than assume a deadline based solely on the date of death.
Can a wrongful death claim exist if my loved one survived the accident for days or weeks before dying?
Yes. A wrongful death claim can arise when injuries caused by another party’s wrongful conduct ultimately result in death, even if death was not immediate. Medical evidence can be particularly important in establishing the causal connection between the original injuries and the later death.
Can a wrongful death lawsuit be brought while criminal charges are also pending?
Yes. Criminal proceedings and civil wrongful death actions serve different purposes and are governed by different rules. A fatal crash, for example, may lead to criminal charges against a driver while the personal representative separately pursues a civil wrongful death claim. The existence or outcome of one proceeding does not automatically determine the other.
Contact a Miami Wrongful Death Lawyer
When someone you love dies because of negligence, no lawsuit can replace that person. A wrongful death claim can, however, provide a means of seeking accountability, addressing the financial consequences of the death, and protecting the legal rights Florida gives surviving family members and the estate.
Sotolongo Law represents families in wrongful death cases throughout Miami, Miami-Dade County, and South Florida. Our boutique approach provides families with personal attention during an extraordinarily difficult time, while our more than 20 years of personal injury experience and medical malpractice background prepare us to pursue complicated cases against major insurers, trucking companies, healthcare providers, hospitals, and other defendants.
If your spouse, parent, child, or other loved one died in a car accident, commercial truck crash, as a result of medical negligence, or because of another party’s wrongdoing, contact Sotolongo Law for a free and confidential consultation. Your family pays no attorney’s fee unless we obtain a recovery.
Because We Care®.