If you suspect funeral home negligence and your family is seeking closure, you can take multiple steps to attain justice for your family. These steps include:
- Speaking to a funeral home negligence attorney to gain their insights into the matter
- Preserving all evidence in your possession
- Working with your lawyer to confront the funeral home and recover proper compensation
Seeking Help After Funeral Home Negligence in Florida
Working with a law firm offers many benefits and advantages to those who want to hold a negligent funeral home accountable for its actions. For example:
- They can listen to your story and explain what legal options are available to you.
- A lawyer can answer all of your questions about what funeral home negligence is and how they can help you prove it happened.
- Since it can be difficult to calculate a dollar amount that accurately reflects your emotional distress and suffering, it may help to have your attorney calculate that amount for you.
- You have enough on your mind right now, so it would be all too easy to get lost in the legal process, forget to take an important step, or allow the funeral home’s insurance company to manipulate you. An attorney can take care of everything, so you don’t have to.
Finding the Right Funeral Home Negligence Attorney
An internet search will likely reveal plenty of lawyers in your area. How can you be sure you pick the right law firm? That is your first step.
A lawyer might be right for you if they:
- Have prior experience with funeral home negligence
- Are happy to answer every question you ask them
- Are willing to give you time to look over the contract and make a final decision
- Can speak intelligently about how funeral home negligence cases work and how they might handle your case specifically
- Have positive reviews online or from people you know
Evidence That May Further Your Funeral Home Negligence Case
Even before you hire a funeral home negligence attorney, you can start taking legal steps to seek closure and justice. One of these steps is to protect and preserve any relevant materials you might have and that your lawyer can provide greater insight into once you speak with them. Such relevant materials might include:
- Billing statements from the funeral home
- Photos of the deceased’s final resting place
- Communications between you and the funeral home, such as voice messages, emails, text messages, and letters
How Does This Evidence Enable You to Seek Closure?
No matter how strongly funeral home negligence in Fort Lauderdale or elsewhere in Florida has affected your family, you cannot collect compensation unless your case includes strong evidence to support your accusations.
Documents like those described above can be invaluable to you and your attorney. They can show:
- What the funeral home promised to do
- If and when the funeral home admitted fault
- If the funeral home was ever dishonest with you
- That you interacted with the funeral home in good faith
Seeking Compensation After Funeral Home Negligence in Fort Myers or Elsewhere in Florida
As your lawyer will tell you, Florida law gives you just two years to file a lawsuit against a funeral home, per Florida Statutes § 95.11(4)(a). Once you take that step and begin your lawsuit, your legal representative can guide you through the process of:
- Determining how much financial compensation you should request for your mental suffering, emotional distress, and other related monetary expenses
- Proving the funeral home’s liability and asking their insurance company to pay you damages
- Meeting and negotiating with the funeral home’s representatives until they agree to pay an appropriate settlement
- Taking your case to court and seeking a jury award, if necessary
- Dealing with all the forms and paperwork required of your case, including court filings and settlement agreements
Other Legal Actions Related to Funeral Home Negligence Lawsuits
Your funeral home negligence suit allows you to pursue compensation if a mortician or other funeral home employee lost, abused, or mistreated your loved one’s remains after their death.
What if your loved one passed away because of another person’s negligence? This requires a different type of legal action called a wrongful death claim or lawsuit.
Under Florida Statutes § 768.19, you can sue anyone who committed a “wrongful act, negligence, default, or breach of contract” that contributed to your loved one’s death. An attorney can help you with this as well.
We Handle Funeral Home Negligence Cases in South Florida
The Law Offices of Wolf & Pravato gives attorneys a good name by treating clients like family and helping them seek closure after funeral home negligence. Call (954) 633-8270 to learn more about the steps to take when you suspect funeral home negligence. We can start providing valuable attorney insights immediately without charging upfront fees.
