Wrongful Death Lawyers in Gulfport

Two kinds of loss, one recovery

Because Mississippi gathers the whole claim into a single proceeding, the recovery is not confined to money. On the economic side sits the present net cash value of the life that was taken: what that life was worth, in financial terms, to the people who relied on it. On the other side sits the loss of the person's society and companionship, which is the relationship itself and has nothing to do with earnings. The claim also reaches what the person endured before dying and the medical and funeral costs. Conduct that was especially reckless can additionally support punitive damages.

What it takes to establish present net cash value

The figure does not arrive from the other side, and it is not a rule of thumb. It is assembled: earnings and earning capacity, how long a working life had left to run, the services the person performed for the household, and all of that expressed in today's money. The other half, society and companionship, is proved by an entirely different route, through the evidence of the people who actually lived that relationship. Neither is quick to build, and an offer that arrives before either has been built is an offer aimed at an unfinished case.

Who is entitled to bring the claim

Miss. Code § 11-7-13 permits a spouse, child, parent or sibling to sue, or the estate's personal representative on behalf of all of them. Since only one action is brought, the family must agree on who files before anything is lodged. We deal with that at the start.

Three years, with a caveat worth checking

A negligence-based wrongful death claim in Mississippi generally falls under the three-year period in Miss. Code § 15-1-49. Particular circumstances can bear on the deadline, which is why it is worth having assessed against your own facts rather than assumed from a general rule. We look at it immediately and begin the investigation while what happened can still be established.

The coast's hospitals and the record they hold

Memorial Hospital Gulfport on 13th Street holds a state Level II trauma center designation; Singing River Gulfport on Community Road is a Level III center; and Memorial Hospital Biloxi provides emergency care on Reynoir Street. Where death follows a serious injury, the treatment record from whichever of them was involved is what shows the course between the two events, and that course forms part of what the combined claim recovers. We ask for the full record rather than a discharge summary.

Which Harrison County courthouse

Harrison County is divided into a First and a Second Judicial District, and Gulfport is the First District seat, so an action arising from an incident in the city is lodged at the 23rd Avenue courthouse rather than at the Second District courthouse in Biloxi. A Mississippi wrongful death action generally belongs in the county where the death-causing event occurred, in that county's Circuit Court, which makes the county and the district two separate things to establish.

Speak to a Gulfport wrongful death lawyer

We are at 2715 Bullis Avenue in Gulfport and answer at any hour. There is no cost in asking what your family's claim involves, and no fee unless a recovery is made. The contact page will reach us, as will a telephone call.

Speak with a Gulfport wrongful death attorney

Common questions

What does "present net cash value" actually mean?

It is the economic worth of the life that was lost, stated in today's money. Building it means looking at earnings and earning capacity, the remaining span of a working life, and the services the person provided at home. It is one half of a Mississippi recovery. The other half, the loss of society and companionship, concerns the relationship rather than the finances and is established through the people who lived it.

Can our family recover punitive damages?

Sometimes, where the conduct causing the death went beyond ordinary carelessness into something especially reckless. They are not part of every case. Punitive damages sit above the compensatory recovery, which in Mississippi already combines the deceased person's own pre-death losses with the family's losses in one action. Whether they are available turns on the particular facts.

Which Harrison County courthouse handles a Gulfport case?

The one on 23rd Avenue, seat of the First Judicial District. Harrison County's Second District operates out of Biloxi, so an action arising in Gulfport that is lodged there has gone to the wrong courthouse. We resolve that before filing.