Experience Matters: Benefits of Hiring a Wrongful Death Lawyer if Your Loved One Dies in a Nebraska or Iowa Accident
Almost every attorney licensed to practice law in Iowa or Nebraska could help you file a wrongful death lawsuit. However, many lawyers—even those who have spent years litigating personal injury claims—may not have the right combination of compassion, skill, and experience needed for a wrongful death claim.
You don’t have to take chances with your family’s rights. The Law Office of Matthew A. Lathrop has spent decades litigating high-stakes wrongful death claims. We know what it takes to overcome even the strongest defense, and we have results to prove it.
3 Reasons to Hire an Experienced Wrongful Death Lawyer
For many families, a lawsuit provides a path forward—a means to recover financial losses or to ensure that a wrongdoer is held accountable for an unforgivable mistake.
Although your reasons are your own, choosing to take a claim to court can have far-reaching consequences. Choosing the right attorney to represent you isn’t easy, and it’s a decision that requires your due diligence. Here are three things to consider when you hire a wrongful death lawyer:
1. Wrongful Death Lawyers Have Experience
Every attorney has the same basic qualifications. If they’re licensed to practice in either Nebraska or Iowa, you can be assured that they’ve:
- Gone to college
- Graduated law school
- Passed the state bar exam or have been otherwise admitted to practice law by the Iowa Board of Law Examiners or the Nebraska Supreme Court Attorney Services Division
Once a lawyer meets these requirements, they can take their career in whichever direction they please. For most professionals, this means obtaining experience in a particular field or industry. Some attorneys want to work with taxes, while others take on challenging criminal cases—and many, especially those who start their own businesses, are happy to accept very different types of claims.
If you’re considering filing a wrongful death lawsuit, you probably know there isn’t much sense in calling a tax lawyer. And, even though many general practitioners are incredibly competent, they don’t always have the experience needed to anticipate every obstacle the defense will put in the way of your recovery.
2. Some Personal Injury Attorneys Can’t Handle Claims Like Yours
A personal injury attorney represents clients injured by acts of negligence.
If somebody says they’re a full-time personal injury lawyer, they may have experience working with people who have been hurt in:
Since these types of accidents are sometimes fatal, most personal injury lawyers will know what to do if they receive a call from somebody who lost a loved one. But this doesn’t mean that every lawyer who works in personal injury is the right fit for you and your case. When looking for a wrongful death attorney, experience matters—and experience comes in many varieties.
Just like some lawyers are better equipped to defend their clients against a tax audit than a police investigation, the attorney you hire needs to be somebody with a record of fighting and winning claims like yours. You don’t want to wait until your trial to learn how niche rules or jury bias could affect your recovery.
3. If the Stakes are High, You Can’t Afford to Take Chances
Nobody wants to find themselves on either side of a wrongful death lawsuit, but for many families, taking a claim to court is the only way to protect their standard of living in the aftermath of an unthinkable loss.
If you can settle your case or secure a court-ordered award, you could obtain damages for:
- End-of-life medical expenses
- The costs of a funeral service, a burial, or cremation
- Pain and suffering
- The loss of a loved one’s income
- The loss of a loved one’s guidance, support, and comfort
Neither Nebraska nor Iowa limits most types of damages in wrongful death claims, but you should never wait too long to contact an attorney. Even if the accident happened recently, delays could come at the cost of destroyed evidence and misremembered testimony.