Every funeral home has a legal duty of care and moral responsibility to treat your loved one’s remains with the utmost dignity and care. When a funeral home employee compromises those principles, your family may pay the price—and that means you deserve justice. A funeral home negligence attorney can help you seek financial compensation for your losses.
An Attorney Can Fight for a Fair Funeral Home Negligence Settlement
If a heinous act of funeral home negligence in Fort Lauderdale or elsewhere in Florida has compromised your loved one’s dignity, an attorney can protect your family’s legal rights. They can help by pursuing financial compensation from the funeral home’s insurance company. Here is how that process works:
Collecting Evidence of Funeral Home Negligence
When you hire an attorney, they will gather all available evidence to prove your case. They can:
- Collect documents
- Interview witnesses and involved parties
- Request information from the funeral home
Negotiating for Fair Compensation for Your Family
You have endured untold stress, sorrow, and possibly even financial losses because of the negligent funeral home. Your legal representative can fight for the damages you need by:
- Scheduling meetings with the funeral home’s insurer
- Demanding fair financial compensation on your behalf
- Fighting back if the funeral home tries to refute your version of events
- Not stopping until the funeral home offers a fair settlement
Taking Your Funeral Home Negligence Case to Court
In most cases, seeking a settlement is enough; the funeral home likely wants to end the case quickly and without much fuss. However, sometimes, a funeral home’s legal representation or insurance company might dig their heels in and refuse to offer a fair settlement. If that happens to you:
- You and your lawyer can consider going to court.
- Your attorney will maintain an open line of communication, just in case the insurance company offers a fair settlement at the last minute.
- Your lawyer can represent you in court if necessary.
- Your legal team can argue persuasively to convince the jury to give you what you need and deserve.
Compensation for Funeral Home Negligence in Fort Myers or Elsewhere in Florida
Your trust and peace of mind have been destroyed at the worst possible moment. Your family has every right to feel cheated and angry. You also have the right to file a funeral home lawsuit for damages, including:
- The pain and distress of knowing the funeral home did not give your loved one’s remains proper care
- The cost of finding another funeral home to care for the deceased person’s remains
- Burial expenses to lay your loved one to rest properly
- Any income you lost when you took time off work to deal with the unnecessary complications created by the funeral home’s negligence
Florida Statutes § 95.11(4)(a) says that Florida residents must file negligence-based lawsuits within two years or forfeit compensation. To receive damages like those listed above, you must act quickly.
Defining Funeral Home Negligence
If you have not yet contacted a local law firm, you may doubt whether your case “counts” as funeral home negligence. Some common factors that characterize funeral home negligence in Florida include:
- Burying the deceased person in the wrong place
- Losing the remains
- Abusing, desecrating, or robbing the remains
- Moving the deceased from their final resting place without informing you or seeking permission
- Withholding a body or a death certification for any reason
- Failing to conduct a background check to ensure the suitability of employees, as required under Florida Statutes § 768.096
Funeral Home Negligence Versus Wrongful Death
In a wrongful death lawsuit, you sue someone for causing your loved one’s preventable, fatal injury. Such cases may be precipitated by negligence that led to, for instance, a car accident or a medical malpractice incident.
In a funeral home negligence case, the cause of your loved one’s death is not relevant; instead, the neglectful treatment of your loved one after their passing entitles you to file suit. If you qualify to file a wrongful death case, it will be a separate action from your funeral home negligence case. In either case, a personal injury attorney can assist you with the legal process.
Do You Need a Funeral Home Negligence Lawyer?
Only you and your family can determine if hiring a law firm to handle your case is the right decision. As you weigh your options, remember that:
- An attorney can handle all legal matters for you.
- You deserve plenty of time and space to process the funeral home’s act of negligence.
- Hiring a lawyer means you always have someone to turn to for advice and answers.
Rely on a Funeral Home Negligence Firm That Treats You With Dignity
Do not compromise on the quality of your legal representative. Call the Law Offices of Wolf & Pravato at (954) 633-8270 for a free consultation today. Our attentive staff will treat your funeral home negligence case with the respect and dignity it deserves, and our personal injury lawyers fight hard to seek fair compensation for each and every client.
