Minneapolis Wrongful Death Attorney

Minneapolis Wrongful Death Lawyer

No matter how many condolences you receive after losing a loved one, nothing can take away from the pain and devastation you feel when someone's wrongful actions caused your loved one's death.

If you recently lost a loved one in a Minneapolis accident due to someone else's reckless, negligent, or intentional actions, reach out to an experienced Minneapolis wrongful death lawyer as soon as possible. You and your family may have the right to receive significant financial compensation for your loss.

Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers in Minneapolis has handled numerous wrongful death claims. We hold at-fault parties accountable for causing wrongful deaths and secure monetary damages from them to help victims recover and rebuild after a tragedy. Contact Nicolet Law Accident & Injury lawyers today to learn how we can pursue justice and compensation for your recent loss.

About Our Minneapolis Wrongful Death Lawyers

Minneapolis Wrongful Death Attorney

Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers is a law firm that provides clients with trusted, affordable, and tailored legal representation when they need it most. We offer award-winning legal services to injured individuals and grieving families throughout the Twin Cities region. Our mission is to help you and your family overcome the challenges and trauma of a recent wrongful death by securing maximum financial compensation for your loss and seeing justice done for your deceased loved one.

Our team has achieved an impressive track record of results over the past fifteen years through hard work and a firm-wide commitment to serving our clients' needs and interests. To date, we have recovered more than 55 million dollars for our clients through judgments, jury verdicts, and out-of-court settlements.

Although we cannot promise a winning outcome in every case we take, we can assure you that our team possesses the knowledge, experience, and resources needed to pursue even the most challenging and complex Minnesota wrongful death cases.

Injured in Minneapolis? Get Nicolet.

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What is a wrongful death claim?

wrongful death claim is a special kind of personal injury lawsuit that surviving family members, or spouses, can pursue when their loved one has died because of someone else's intentional, reckless, or negligent decisions and actions. Through a Minneapolis wrongful death claim, you can hold an individual, business, government entity, or organization financially accountable for causing your loved one's death. The monetary damages in a wrongful death action are paid to the surviving spouse and family members who bring the case.

A separate lawsuit known as a “survival action” commonly accompanies a wrongful death claim. In a survival action, your deceased loved one's estate (through an appointed representative like an executor) sues the at-fault party (or parties) for damages that arose prior to death. The compensation paid for survival claims flows to the deceased individual's estate, to be distributed through the Minnesota probate process.

How do Minneapolis wrongful death claims arise?

Wrongful death claims arise whenever a deceased person would have had a viable personal injury claim against the at-fault party had that party's wrongful act not caused an untimely death. Here are some common circumstances leading to Minneapolis wrongful death cases, any of which we have the experience and know-how to handle at Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers.

Motor Vehicle Accidents

Fatal car crashes and other motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of accidental death in Minnesota and frequently lead to Minnesota wrongful death claims. At Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers, our team has years of experience fighting to hold dangerous drivers and others accountable for causing deadly cartruckbusmotorcycle, snowmobile, or ATV accidents. We have detailed familiarity with investigating and pursuing motor vehicle accident cases on behalf of all types of injured or deceased victims, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians, bystanders, and bicyclists.

Dangerous Property Conditions

Commercial, residential, and public property owners in Minneapolis must take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of their guests, customers, and visitors. If a failure to correct, prevent, or warn visitors of a dangerous property condition leads to a tragic death, the owner or other parties may face legal liability.

At Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers, we have years of experience pursuing justice and compensation for victims of accidents and incidents that took place on someone else's Minneapolis-area property. Our team can handle wrongful death cases involving falls, drownings, electrocutions, poisonings, toxic exposures, and animal attacks (especially dog bites).

Dangerous Drugs and Other Defective Products

Minneapolis residents, visitors, and workers trust that the consumer, commercial, and industrial products we encounter in our everyday lives and jobs will be reasonably safe to use. However, sometimes they are not. Products ranging from over-the-counter medications to herbicides (like Paraquat) to household appliances sometimes contain defects that make them unreasonably dangerous and potentially deadly.

At Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers, we represent clients who have suffered great harm, including fatal injuries, because of their use of or exposure to a dangerous, defective product. We have the resources and know-how to hold even the largest and most powerful manufacturers accountable to the innocent victims of their products.

Construction and Other Workplace Accidents

On average, around 80 Minnesota workers die in workplace accidents annually. Deadly accidents can happen in any workplace, but workplace fatalities run especially high in the construction and manufacturing industries and manual labor jobs. When Minnesotans die from work-related injuries and illnesses, their surviving spouses and families often have the right to receive workers' compensation death benefits. But those payments may not support you through a tragic loss.

Our Minnesota wrongful death attorneys can assist grieving spouses and families in securing death benefits and suing for additional wrongful death and survival damages whenever possible.

Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

We place our loved ones in the care of a Minneapolis-area nursing home, trusting that management and staff will treat them with dignity, respect, and appropriate skill. Nursing homes and other specialty care facilities do not always meet their obligations. Abuse and neglect at a Minneapolis nursing home can put residents' lives in danger by failing to supervise their activities, supply their medications, or monitor their health conditions. At Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers, we fight to hold Minneapolis care providers responsible for unforgivable breaches of trust that lead to the death of a beloved spouse or family member.

Who can pursue a Minneapolis wrongful death claim?

When Can You File a Wrongful Death Claim in Minneapolis

Under Minnesota law, those who have the right to pursue wrongful death lawsuits include the deceased individual's:

  • Surviving spouse;
  • Surviving child;
  • Parent, if there is no surviving spouse or child; or
  • Sibling, if there were no surviving children or parents.

In many cases, you may also have the right to ask a court to appoint a “trustee” to file the case on your behalf and to distribute any financial recovery pursuant to Minnesota law.

Contact the skilled, compassionate Minneapolis wrongful death attorneys at Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers today if you have questions about whether you qualify to pursue a wrongful death claim.

Potential Damages in a Minneapolis Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Minnesota law permits surviving spouses and family members to recover their so-called pecuniary losses resulting from a wrongful death.

These typically include:

  • Loss of wages, income, and benefits that the deceased would otherwise have earned;
  • The value of the deceased’s household services;
  • Loss of the deceased’s aid, advice, comfort, and protection;
  • Medical bills paid for the deceased’s care;
  • Funeral and burial costs.

The law also permits the recovery of monetary damages the deceased individual incurred before death through a survival action. Unlike some states, however, a survival action in Minnesota cannot seek compensation for the deceased person's pain and suffering before death.

Speak for free today with the team at Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers to learn about the potential damages you may have the right to pursue in a wrongful death action.

Time Limitations and Wrongful Death Claims in Minneapolis

Minnesota's law sets a time limit—called a statute of limitations—on filing wrongful death cases against the party (or parties) at fault for your loved one's death. If you do not take legal action before this deadline expires, you could lose your rights to seek justice and compensation in Minnesota courts.

The statute of limitations to bring a Minnesota wrongful death claim is generally six years from your loved one's death date. But exceptions and conditions to this rule can shorten or lengthen that period. Therefore, it is best not to wait to retain legal help. The sooner you reach out to an experienced Minneapolis wrongful death attorney, the better chance you have of meeting the applicable deadlines and avoiding a costly loss of your rights.

How does a lawyer prove wrongful death in Minneapolis?

Every case we handle at Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers differs.

But generally, to have a successful wrongful death case, we must prove that:

  • Your loved one died: This generally requires a death certificate, medical records, and other official documents that adequately reflect the fact of your loved one’s death.
  • Another person’s wrongdoing caused the death: This is the heart of a wrongful death case. We typically seek to prove it through evidence of how the death happened and how the at-fault party’s unreasonably dangerous decisions and/or actions contributed to it.
  • You suffered pecuniary loss: We work closely with our clients to understand how a tragic loss impacted their lives so that we can translate that impact into a presentation for a jury explaining why they should award maximum damages.

Wrongful death claims in Minneapolis can present significant factual and legal challenges. Do not trust just any lawyer with your loved one's legacy. Speak with the wrongful death team at Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers today to learn how we can put our years of experience and know-how to work in your case.

Steps You Can Take to Assist Your Minneapolis Wrongful Death Attorney

If you can find the time, it may help to take the following preliminary steps to assist your Minneapolis wrongful death attorney's initial evaluation of your case.  But do not worry if these tasks seem too overwhelming—an experienced wrongful death attorney can handle them on your behalf if necessary.

Obtain the Death Certificate

You can do this through the Hennepin County vital records office. We can do this for you.

Gather and Save Evidence Relating to the Wrongful Death

Collect and preserve any evidence you have that relates to your loved one's death as possible. This might include photos and videos of the accident scene, medical records, police accident reports, medical bills, and funeral and burial costs related to the wrongful death. Avoid throwing anything away—if it has to do with your tragic loss, keep it in a safe place until an experienced wrongful death lawyer can review it.

Get Witness Contact Information

If you know of any witnesses who saw what happened to your loved one, get their names and contact information so that an attorney can reach out to them to learn what they know.

Contact Our Minneapolis Wrongful Death Attorneys Today

Nicolet Law managing attorney Russell Nicolet
Minneapolis Wrongful Death Lawyer Russell Nicolet

If you suffered a tragic loss, our experienced Minneapolis wrongful death lawyers can:

  • Evaluate your claim, determine if you have a viable case, and explain your legal options.
  • Investigate the wrongful death and secure the evidence needed to prove what happened and who was at fault.
  • Hire experts, such as forensic scientists and medical specialists, to substantiate a claim.
  • Take any necessary actions to preserve your rights before the statute of limitations expires.
  • Prepare and file a wrongful death and/or survival claim in Hennepin County court.
  • Handle all interactions with representatives of the at-fault party
  • Negotiate a fair settlement of your wrongful death claim if possible.
  • Take your case to trial and fight to see justice done and compensation paid for your loss.

Under Minnesota law, you have the right to hold an at-fault party accountable for causing the tragic death of your loved one. Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers can help you. Contact us today online or by phone at (612) 688-4459 for a free case consultation with a knowledgeable, compassionate Minneapolis wrongful death attorney.

Minneapolis Office
43 SE Main St
Suite 500
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Phone: 612-446-3999