Filing a Wrongful Death Claim After a Workplace Accident
Millions of Illinois residents go off to work each day without ever considering that tragedy might strike. Sadly, around 145 Illinois workers lost their lives on the job in 2023, according to the most recent data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That’s 145 families whose lives have forever changed.
As a family deals with the initial shock and overwhelming sadness, they have to start thinking about their future. They also need to look at the circumstances surrounding the death. Was it caused by negligence? Who should be held responsible?
There could be a scenario where you file a wrongful death claim through workers’ compensation and a civil lawsuit against a negligent party. This is why these claims can become very complex, very fast.
In the event of an unfortunate workplace fatality, an experienced Morris wrongful death lawyer can help you make sense of all the viable options for pursuing compensation.
Understanding the Intersection of Workers’ Comp and Wrongful Death
Under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act, when a worker is injured on the job and files a workers’ compensation claim, there is no fault attributed to the injury-causing accident. In other words, even if the worker caused an accident, they could still receive benefits.
The tradeoff: accepting workers’ compensation benefits generally means the family cannot also sue the employer over the same accident. That’s why most wrongful death lawsuits after a workplace fatality target someone other than the employer. Here’s how the two paths compare:
Fault Requirement
Workers’ compensation provides death benefits regardless of who caused the incident. With a wrongful death lawsuit, the survivor’s family must prove that a third party was negligent or that there was intentional harm.
Target Entity
The workers’ compensation wrongful death claim is filed against the employer’s insurance provider. A wrongful death claim is filed against a negligent third party.
Available Damages
A workers’ compensation wrongful death offers fixed economic limits with a capped wage replacement. If you file a wrongful death lawsuit, you are entitled to broader economic and noneconomic damages without any caps.
Resolution Time
Workers’ compensation wrongful death claims are typically resolved relatively fast. A wrongful death lawsuit can take several months and possibly years to resolve.
Identifying Responsible Third Parties in Fatal Workplace Accidents
If you are going to pursue a wrongful death claim outside of workers’ compensation, you will need to identify the responsible third party. Those would be the parties whose negligence contributed directly to the fatality. These are the third parties who could be responsible.
Subcontractors & Other Companies: On multi-employer worksites, such as construction zones, other contractors or their employees may act negligently. For example, an independent contractor may be hired to erect the scaffolding around a project. If the scaffolding collapses and causes a death, the company that built the scaffolding can be held liable.
Equipment Manufacturers: If a fatality results from a piece of equipment that has a design flaw, wasn’t assembled properly, or lacks adequate safety warnings, the maker or distributor of the machinery may face product liability claims.
Property Owners: There could be hazards at the premises that contributed to the worker’s death. Those hazards can be faulty wiring, hidden hazards, or unmaintained structures. In those situations, the property owner or manager can be liable.
Negligent Drivers: If a worker is killed in a vehicle crash while on the job, the driver of the other vehicle who caused the accident can be held accountable.
Types of Compensation Available for Surviving Family Members
Surviving family members are entitled to seek compensation for the loss of their loved one. There are many options for compensation, including Social Security survivor benefits, workers’ compensation death benefits, and VA Benefits. There is also the potential for a remedy through a wrongful death lawsuit or survival action.
The most common types of compensation awarded or provided include the following:
- Loss of financial support that replaces the income the deceased would have provided to the household
- Medical bills that may have resulted from emergency care and hospitalization incurred by the deceased before their death.
- Funeral and burial costs
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of household services
With a civil wrongful death lawsuit, the surviving family members can seek to recover damages for financial and emotional losses resulting from someone else’s negligence. They can also sue for survival actions.
These would be the damages that cover the pain and suffering and lost wages the deceased personally experienced between the time of injury and their actual death.
The Importance of Timely Filing Under the Statute of Limitations
While a family is grieving, legal action might not be a priority. However, in Illinois, you have only two years from the date of death to file a claim. That time can go by extremely fast when you include all the potential investigations and gathering of evidence in support of your claim. When the legal team at Schweickert Ganassin Krzak Rundio, LLP takes on a wrongful death claim, we’ll ensure all applicable filing deadlines are met.
We work closely with the surviving families to ensure they understand all the potential challenges in filing these types of claims. We’re sensitive to what they’re going through and how important it is to find a resolution.
We also want to make sure the family’s financial future is protected.
If you’ve lost a loved one due to a workplace accident, you owe it to your family to understand all your options for pursuing compensation. Call to set up a free case review today. We can answer any questions you might have and help you make the right decision about what should happen next.
