Wrongful Death Lawsuit Loans

Have a Wrongful Death Lawsuit But Need Some Cash Now?

TriMark Legal Funding can give you the cash you need now… before your injury claim settles.

Wrongful Death Pre-Settlement Funding

TriMark Legal Funding is one of the longstanding, premier lawsuit funding firms in the United States. We provide plaintiffs with wrongful death lawsuit funding so they can live sustainably while they wait for their case to settle.

A settlement or verdict may be hard to come by for those who have filed a wrongful death claim. To continue fighting for justice through compensation for your loss, you may have to seek alternative solutions. In that case, wrongful death lawsuit funding is a fast, affordable, and risk-free option for plaintiffs who are at the end of their rope.

It’s hard and painful, for sure. You lost a loved one due to the negligence or recklessness of other people. With their absence comes real worries, such as where to get the money to pay for your mortgage, the kids’ schooling, the hospital bill you incurred while your spouse was sick, or even your daily living expenses.

Consider getting wrongful death lawsuit funding now.

Known for other names like lawsuit loans, legal funding, pre settlement funding, and lawsuit funding, this form of financial relief comes at a time when you need it most. Wrongful death lawsuit funding is a lifeline when you’re in the middle of a legal battle that’s messy, protracted, and challenging.

This aid is not actually a loan. Wrongful death lawsuit funding is a non-recourse cash advance you make on a portion of your anticipated settlement or award. It can literally eliminate your worries because it gives you access to funds now, so you can keep going amid the loss. Plus, wrongful death lawsuit funding does not require monthly payments. You pay it back only when your case settles and the settlement check starts to arrive.

The best news yet is that you can apply for wrongful death lawsuit funding even if you’re currently unemployed. Income history or credit scores are also irrelevant. At TriMark, we base the approval of your application on the merits of your case. We like offering people a good place to (re)start.

Get wrongful death lawsuit funding from TriMark as early as tomorrow!

Let’s Talk!

Call us at (877) 932-2628 or send us your details & we’ll call you.

    How Does Wrongful Death Lawsuit Funding Work?

    TriMark Legal Funding specializes in helping heirs with estates in probate.
    Getting a probate advance is a simple 3-step process:

    1. Apply for Funding

    You can apply online or by phone. We’ll answer your questions and gather some basic information about your inheritance.

    2. Review & Approval

    Our team will review documents (usually accessible online), approve your request and execute paperwork via DocuSign.

    3. Receive Your Money

    Funds are wired directly into your bank account. The entire process can take as little as 3 hours. Most cases fund in under 24 hours

    What Are Wrongful Death Lawsuit Loans

    Pre Settlement vs. Post Settlement Wrongful Death Lawsuit Funding

    There are two types of wrongful death lawsuit funding available to plaintiffs: pre settlement and post settlement loans.

    Pre-settlement wrongful death lawsuit funding is an option for people who are in the middle of a lawsuit, which can last for several months to many years. 

    Most personal injury lawsuits and employment claims can qualify for pre-settlement loans. So if you filed combined actions – personal injury and wrongful death – you may be eligible to apply. 

    Meanwhile, post-settlement wrongful death lawsuit funding is a solution for those who already settled their case or won a verdict but are standing by for the release of their settlement or compensation check. Given how much insurance companies work to avoid payouts, this waiting game can also drag on for years.

    Virtually all types of settled litigation qualify for post-settlement wrongful death lawsuit funding except workers’ comp.

    Who Qualifies for Wrongful Death Settlement Funding?

    Pending Cases

    These are the criteria for wrongful death lawsuit funding eligibility for pending cases:

    • You are represented by a contingent-fee attorney.
    • You must have sustained serious physical injuries or incurred grave financial losses.
    • You have established a clear liability against a sufficiently insured defendant.
    • Your anticipated value should net at least $150,000 (gross award less attorney fees, case costs, medical liens, etc.).
    • Your settlement check must be deposited to, and be distributed out of, your attorney’s trust account.

    Settled Cases

    You only need to provide documentation showing that you will net a minimum of $60,000 after all deductions to receive wrongful death lawsuit funding.

    Wrongful Death Explained

    The resulting death of a person due to the willful or negligent act of another can serve as a basis for a civil suit. The family of the decedent, another term for the deceased, can bring a charge in a civil court. 

    Wrongful death claims are focused on getting monetary relief for the recipients. They seek compensation for the loss of support, medical and funeral expenses, and loss of consortium, among others. 

    The Cornell Law School defines loss of consortium as the “deprivation of the benefits of a family relationship due to injuries caused by a tortfeasor.” It includes affection and sexual relations. For example, a spouse of a person injured or killed in a car accident can file for this claim. 

    In some cases, it is not always easy to prove the liability of a defendant in a wrongful death claim. Understanding the filing process, its rules, its challenges, and other related matters can help you navigate the situation more strategically, if not successfully.

    Learn more about time limits for filing, criteria for plaintiffs, and specific cases in the sections that follow. It is also important to find and work together with a lawyer specializing wrongful death claims, as well as a company that specializes in wrongful death lawsuit funding, like us.

    How to File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit

    First, you need to know if you’re the person authorized by your state to file a wrongful death claim. Some states allow the decedent’s surviving spouse, children, parents, siblings, or other relatives to do the filing. Others let only the executor of the decedent’s estate.

    Another thing to check is whether the statute of limitations for this type of claim has not elapsed. The statute of limitations refers to the deadline by which you can still bring a charge against the individual allegedly liable for the death of a loved one. This deadline may also affect your wrongful death lawsuit funding application.

    Different states vary in their prescribed time limits. For instance, Montana will recognize a claim if filed within three years of the time of death. Florida restricts filing to two years.

    There are situations in which the time limit starts running from the discovery of harm instead of the date of death. This is called the “discovery rule,” which helps determine if the decedent had actual knowledge of the cause of their injury or illness prior to death.

    Statute of Limitations

    Per State

    StateTime Limit(from the time of death)StateTime Limit(from the time of death)
    Alabama2 yearsMontana3 years
    Alaska2 yearsNebraska2 years
    Arizona2 yearsNevada2 years
    Arkansas3 yearsNew Hampshire6 years
    California2 yearsNew Jersey2 years
    Colorado2 yearsNew Mexico3 years
    Connecticut2 yearsNew York2 years
    Delaware2 yearsNorth Carolina2 years
    Florida2 yearsNorth Dakota2 years
    Georgia2 yearsOhio2 years
    Hawaii2 yearsOklahoma2 years
    Idaho2 yearsOregon3 years
    Illinois1 yearPennsylvania2 years
    Indiana2 yearsRhode Island3 years
    Iowa2 yearsSouth Carolina3 years
    Kansas2 yearsSouth Dakota3 years
    Kentucky2 yearsTennessee1 year
    Louisiana1 yearTexas2 years
    Maine2 yearsUtah2 years
    Maryland3 yearsVermont2 years
    Massachusetts3 yearsWashington3 years
    Michigan3 yearsWest Virginia2 years
    Minnesota3 yearsWisconsin3 years
    Mississippi3 yearsWyoming2 years
    Missouri3 yearsWashington D.C.2 years

    Source: FindLaw

    Next comes the filing of a complaint or petition, in which you lay down the legal basis for your case. A summons will also be sent to the defendant, notifying them of the lawsuit and its details.

    A procedure called service of process will then be conducted to provide the defendant with the documents relevant to the claim.

    All of these make up a process that can take many years. Going at it yourself can be a challenge, especially if you have no legal experience. Hiring a wrongful death attorney on a contingency agreement is your best option while starting out, and wrongful death lawsuit funding can help you cover living expenses until you receive your settlement. 

    How to Calculate for Damages in a Wrongful Death Claim

    Usually, the monetary award in a wrongful death claim is measured by the earning potential of the victim or deceased when they were alive. It could also be based on the value assigned to pain and suffering they went through between incurring an injury or illness due to a negligent act and death.

    Assessing and quantifying the damage is the work of jurors. It may be challenging to put a price on human life, but guidelines are given to avoid guesswork.

    Economic Damages

    This aspect largely depends on the economic situation of the decedent at the time of death. Here are some of the factors:

    • The decedent’s age and health at the time of death;
    • The decedent’s future earning capacity alongside income at the time of death; if unemployed, the income in the most recent job;
    • The decedent’s amount and type of education, as well as training and specialization;
    • The medical bills incurred due to the injury or illness caused by the negligent act; 
    • Funeral expenses; and
    • Loss of future benefits, such as pension and insurance.

    Non-Economic Damages

    The other basis is the loss of consortium, which deprives the next of kin, like a spouse or children, of the love and companionship of the person who passed away.

    The factors considered here are as follows:

    • The perceived value of the life, which is subjective and determined by the judge or jury;
    • The liable party’s identity; and
    • Any loss of love, companionship, affection, comfort, protection, or support suffered by the decedent’s family or loved ones.

    Children and the Elderly 

    With the computation method set above, measuring the future financial value for a child or elderly decedent can be challenging. Thus, courts and juries have the following principles to observe:

    Loss of a Child

    We won’t hide the fact that the amount the parents can recover from the death of their child can be small. According to Thomson Reuters’ FindLaw, the financial losses can be speculated based on the following factors:

    • The age, sex, life expectancy, work expectancy, state of health, and habits of the child;
    • The child’s earning potential;
    • The relationship of the decedent to those claiming a pecuniary loss; and
    • The health, age, and circumstances of those claiming pecuniary losses.

    The accurate speculation of a child’s earning potential, for example, depends on the age of the child at the time of death. It can be harder to assess the earning potential of an 18-year-old with excellent scholastic records and enrollment in a top university program compared to that of an 8-year-old with similarly high achievements in school.

    Loss of a Fetus

    In many states, the death of an unborn fetus is not actionable. However, some states may allow it. Seek advice from a local attorney with knowledge of this particular situation if you want to move forward with a case.

    Loss of an Elderly Person

    As with children, the recovery over the death of an elderly individual may be limited. Some scholars argue that the undervaluation of the elderly’s lives in wrongful death claims stems from a system that operates by a Valuation by Human Capital approach.

    Some of the factors that lead to a small award of damages include:

    • The assumption that people of retirement age had no significant earning potential; and
    • The elderly decedent’s children are likely adults with decreased needs for their parents’ guidance and support.

    Drowning

    While it’s not always the case, there are instances where another party is legally liable for the drowning of a person. When this happens, the next of kin can file a claim over the wrongful death of a family member or loved one.

    Water Sports

    Such activities can be grounds for claims if someone else caused the drowning of an individual. For example, a person swimming nearby drowned after getting hit by a boat or jet ski. The one operating the watercraft was negligent or reckless at the time. And they should be held accountable for their action.

    Swimming Pool

    Owners of public pools, spas, and swimming holes may be sued if a guest drowned because of the negligent or reckless behavior of a lifeguard or the lack of maintenance in the area. With regard to maintenance, they can be liable if they had knowledge of the item that needed fixing but failed to revert or remedy it, causing someone to drown.

    Physician-Patient Privilege

    The physician-patient privilege is a right of privacy that prevents the sharing of a patient’s medical records without their consent. The privilege does not automatically go away when the patient dies.

    However, once the plaintiff brings a wrongful death charge, as well as a personal injury or negligence claim, the privilege is waived. Some believe this should not be the case. But others support the idea that the privilege should not be extended after the patient’s death if the records can help a person or entity in defending themselves.

    There are states that require the surviving family member or personal representative to waive the privilege. The waiver of privilege will now allow attorneys to have access to private medical records, which some medical practitioners oppose. But legal professionals should be careful to avoid tainting the memory of the deceased.

    Specific Cases

    Single Mom in Portland

    In Portland, Oregon, a 30-year-old single mom suffered shoulder injuries in a car crash. A vehicle hit the one she was riding as a passenger. Her condition required surgery and resulted in chronic pain.

    To deal with the persistence of pain, she became dependent on prescription pain medication. It went on for almost a year until she accidentally overdosed on her pills alongside alcohol. 

    wrongful death claim was filed against the driver who had caused the injury, alleging that the defendant’s negligent driving also played a substantial role in the woman’s death. The plaintiff successfully showed that it was the auto accident that caused the injury, the injury that caused ongoing pain, and the ongoing pain that caused the reliance on pain medication. 

    In other words, it would not have come to this conclusion had the injury-causing crash not happened.

    The case settled for the limit of the defendant’s car insurance policy.

    O.J. Simpson

    One of the widely known and highly publicized criminal cases involved O.J. Simpson. The football star was charged with first-degree murder each for the death of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and Ronald Goldman.

    In 1995, Simpson was acquitted and could no longer be tried for the same charges again under the U.S. double jeopardy laws.

    However, the Goldman family filed a wrongful death suit against Simpson in 1997, blaming him for the deaths of Brown and Goldman. The civil litigation included the defendant taking the stand, which he did not do during his criminal trial. 

    A month after the filing, a jury found Simpson responsible for the two deaths, awarding $33.5 million to each of the two families. The civil lawsuit required only a preponderance of evidence – which allows the burden of proof to be met if there’s a “greater than 50% chance that the claim is true” – while the criminal case failed to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.


    Latest Developments in Wrongful Death Litigation…

    The parents of a 26-year-old man killed by Auburn police in 2019 have filed a federal wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit alleging an officer shot Enosa Strickland Jr. in the back of the head while he was lying face down in a parking lot. The lawsuit also claims that the officer who shot him, Kenneth Lyman, has an extensive history of using force and was carrying an unapproved and “illegal” dagger that he later claimed Strickland, who went by the initials “EJ,” had grabbed and refused to drop during a struggle. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, alleges that Lyman and another officer identified only with the initials “DM,” responded to a domestic disturbance in an apartment parking lot around… Read more
    An attorney for the family of a Wisconsin resident who was shot and killed by a Polk County sheriff's deputy in 2018 told Axios this week that the shooting "more likely than not was justified." Why it matters: The case drew questions over why video evidence was withheld for more than two years after the shooting. It also cost the county at least $170,000 to settle legal disputes. Flashback: Polk County sheriff's officials said Isaiah Hayes robbed a Grinnell Walmart and led law enforcement on two high-speed chases on July 17, 2018. Polk deputy Ryan Phillips shot and killed Hayes as he tried to flee on foot in an Altoona neighborhood, sheriff's officials said. Hayes was holding a gun at the time of the shooting, according to the sheriff's officials. Methamphetamine was later found in Hayes' system, autopsy records show…. Read more
    The surviving children of a 73-year-old East Texas woman killed in a 2016 crash were awarded $730 million Monday by a Titus County jury in a wrongful death lawsuit. Toni Combest was driving from one church service to another on Feb. 21, 2016, when she was killed on the White Oak bridge near Mount Pleasant by a nearly 200,000-pound “Super-Load” escorted by front and back pilot escort vehicles. The lawsuit for negligence causing wrongful death was filed against the trucking company and the employing companies of the front and rear escort vehicles. Landstar Ranger, the trucking company, and S&M Pilot Service, the employer of the rear escort driver settled prior to trial for $50 million and $1 million, respectively. The case against 2A Pilot Cars, the employer of the front escort vehicle, went to trial and lasted about a week. Brent Goudarzi of Goudarzi & Young in Longview and Gilmer… Read more
    The 7-2 vote by the City Council ends the lawsuit by the sister of Muhammad Abdul Muhaymin, who was homeless and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia. “Although they (city officials) didn’t acknowledge any specific kind of wrongdoing, the settlement makes a strong statement — and for that reason, I am happy we could move forward,” said Muhaymin’s sister, Mussallina Muhaymin. City spokesman Dan Wilson declined to comment on the settlement on behalf of the city and police department. Lawyers representing the city had previously denied the lawsuit’s allegations of excessive force and wrongful death…. Read more
    The mother of Elijah McCain, a Black man who died after an altercation with Colorado law enforcement, has settled her federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Aurora and its police department. McClain, notes CBS News, was walking home from a convenience store when someone called 9-1-1 to report a person acting suspiciously. Police arrested McClain shortly after sighting him. A confrontation ensued when officers ordered McClain to stop. However, McClain kept walking, and officers tried to subdue him. After speaking with police, McClain told officers that he was on his way home and had not harmed or meant to harm anyone. He then explained that he had been listening to music and had thus not heard the officers’ commands. While Aurora police officials said that McClain was violent and had tried reaching for their guns, body-camera footage of the encounter does not capture any evidence of these claims…. Read more
    A jury returned a verdict Monday against Alaska Airlines for $3,189,672 in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against it after a woman's fall down a Portland International Airport escalator in June 2017 in Oregon. The family of Bernice Kekona, a Spokane, Washington woman who died four months after her fall, filed a wrongful death suit against Alaska Airlines in December 2017, alleging neglect at the airport contributed to her injuries. The airline filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit but a U.S. District Judge ruled against the motion in March 2018…. Read more

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