What Legal Options Exist for Victims of Catastrophic Injury?

When someone you love dies because of another person's carelessness, you have the right to bring a wrongful death action under Connecticut law. A wrongful death lawyer in East Hartford, CT can explain who is eligible to file, what you might be able to recover, and all the other details that will matter for your family. What to Know After a Wrongful Death Who Can File One of the peculiarities of Connecticut law is that family members can't bring a case directly. Only the executor or administrator of the deceased's estate may bring a wrongful death action, and all winnings go to the estate and become part of the inheritance of the surviving family. If your loved one left a will, the person named as executor would typically need to apply for formal appointment to that position through the probate court before anything else can happen; if there was no will, someone must petition to be appointed as the administrator before the claim can go forward. What You Can File For Many states divide these actions into two: a claim by the family, and a survival claim for the decedent's own losses. In our state, there's just one claim that covers them both, and the executor of the estate will bring a claim to recover “just damages” together with the cost of reasonably necessary medical, hospital, nursing services, and funeral expenses for the deceased. “Just damages” is fair compensation to the estate (and indirectly to the family) for the injuries and losses caused by the negligent action that resulted in the person's death. This would include things like compensation for the years of income the defendant could have still earned as well as compensation for their pain and suffering prior to death. Loss of Consortium The only person who can bring a claim alongside the estate's claim for wrongful death is the surviving spouse, who can bring a loss of consortium claim. This is compensation for the loss of the deceased's companionship, affection, moral support, and more: all the things that normally come with marriage. The consortium claim is independent of the other when when it comes to measuring the damages, but it does have to be brought along with the estate's wrongful death action. Time Limits The action generally must be brought within two years from the date of death. In the rare instance the court might allow a longer time limit, that limit can never go past five years from the date that the wrongful act was committed. Note that these clocks have different starting points. Most claim time limits start from the date of actual death; the absolute limit is from the date that the defendant acted or failed to act in a way that caused your loved one's death. Talk to an East Hartford, CT Wrongful Death Lawyer Today If your loved one has passed away after an accident or injury due to someone else's fault, contact the Adler Law Group right away. We'll help the executor of the estate put your claim on a sound footing. From our Hartford office, we serve East Hartford and most of the state.

In a personal injury claim, insurers apply set formulas and use software to set a number for your personal injury claim value. You can challenge their number if you know their process, however, and a Hartford, CT injury lawyer knows how insurers make these determinations and what evidence is needed to push back. Maximizing Personal Injury Claim Value The Basics Insurers begin by adding up the economic losses that you can document with paper. Medical bills form the base of the claim, and you'll also include any lost wages, damaged personal property, and out-of-pocket costs. You must have receipts for all of this. Non-economic damages are then added on to compensate you for pain or lost enjoyment of daily life. To reach this number, most carriers multiply the total of your economic losses by a number between 1 and 5, depending on how severe the injuries were. However, insurers are notorious for minimizing these numbers. The Algorithms Large carriers often feed the same numbers into evaluation software such as Colossus. This program converts the diagnosis codes, procedure codes, treatment length, and imaging results into severity points drawn from thousands of earlier claims in the same region. The software then produces a settlement range that the adjuster may still adjust for other factors. Liability Here in Connecticut, we use a modified comparative negligence rule. With this rule, you can only bring a claim if you're 50% at fault or less for the accident that injured you, and the amount of your award is reduced by the same percentage as your fault. Once again, insurers often overstate a victim's degree of fault in order to reduce their own payout. How Your Lawyer Can Help You can help to raise your final number by building a complete record from the first day. First, get prompt treatment and consistent follow-up so there's no room to argue that your injuries aren't related to the accident or that you've made them worse by failing to follow the doctor's orders. Then, keep a simple daily log that notes your pain levels, the limitations on your activities that injuries have caused you, and important events you had to miss. Give your lawyer all this so they can use it to start building a strong case. It's also important to work with your lawyer by listening to their advice about how to respond to the insurer. For example, a good lawyer will often advise you to refuse a first offer because those first offers are almost always at the very bottom of the potential range. That's because the adjuster is testing whether you're willing to accept less than what you're owed, either because you don't know better or because you're desperate. Your lawyer will also counter lowball offers with written demands that list every cost you've suffered and contain clear and convincing evidence to prove it. When the demand package from your lawyer is well-supported and well-argued, the adjuster is left with a lot less room to wiggle out of their obligations. Contact Us for Help In Hartford, CT Our attorneys handle both plaintiff claims and insurance-defense work, so we know both sides and the tactics carriers use. Reach out to the Adler Law Group, LLC in Hartford, CT to set up a consultation

One of the most common types of business litigation is contract disputes, and any good East Hartford, CT business wants to do everything possible to avoid these. Here's a few legal strategies your lawyer can help you with to minimize contract issues. Improve Contract Clarity Your contracts need to be clear and easy to understand so all parties know just what they're supposed to do. To make sure your contract is like this, talk with a business attorney and have them draft a contract that: Clearly defines all responsibilities Sets deadlines unambiguously Explains all payment structures clearly Sets performance expectations Uses specific terms throughout Ambiguity is your worst nightmare in these contracts, so you have to avoid open-ended terms like "within a reasonable time" or "as needed." Replace all these phrases with clear, measurable standards. Never Make a Verbal Agreement Verbal agreements might seem like they convey trust and fellowship, but they're very risky. Always get your contracts in writing. Real professionals will never object to this. Include Dispute Resolutions Provisions It's essential to be prepared, and even the best partnerships can hit a rocky spot when something unexpected happens. If you've already laid out the roadmap for resolving conflicts, however, then both sides have what they need to deal with the disagreement and hopefully prevent it from turning to litigation. Good dispute resolution clauses should offer a couple of avenues for dealing with a disagreement. Start with informal negotiations, then move to more formal ones, like mediation or arbitration, and save litigation as a last-ditch resort. Consider including a clause that requires the losing side to pay all expenses and business losses for the other party, if the losing side is also the one that brought the litigation in the first place. This simple requirement ensures everyone involved thinks carefully about whether it's worthwhile to take that step. Update Regularly Never assume that your agreements will stay good perpetually. Your circumstances or those of your partner may change, and it's essential that you review contracts regularly to make sure the terms are still applicable to your situation, needs, and goals. Make It Comprehensive It might seem that the safest route is to keep contracts as simple as possible, but in reality, many contract issues come about because there weren't enough details in the contract. All tasks, deliverables, responsibilities, obligations, timelines, quality and performance standards, and even methods of communication need to be spelled out in detail. Strive to have no grey areas at all, and remember that your contract not only guides how you act but also sets a tone of professionalism and communicates how you intend to hold the other party accountable (and how you expect to be held accountable yourself). Talk to a Business Litigation Attorney The best time to talk with a business litigation lawyer is before any litigation, while there's still time to prevent the litigation in the first place. Call Adler Law Group, LLC Attorneys at Law in Hartford, CT now at 959-256-2177 to set up a consultation. We serve the entire Hartford and East Hartford areas and are dedicated to serving our local community with professionalism.