WRONGFUL DEATH

When a person dies because of a fatal injury due to the negligent actions of another person, this is called a wrongful death.

It is important to note that this negligence does not need to be intentional, meaning unintentional actions may be sufficient for a claim of wrongful death to succeed. These lawsuits commonly involve, but are not limited to, the following: being killed by an intoxicated driver, medical malpractice, product liability, homicide, pedestrian accidents, and motorcycle accidents.

In Ontario, the law governing damages for wrongful death is the Family Law Act. Specifically, the Act states that the following family members can collect damages: the victims’ spouse(s), children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters. Note that if a loved one has dies because of a wrongful death, and that person was the primary income earner in the family, if you are one of the above-mentioned relatives, you will be able to make a claim to compensate for the loss of this income. Specifically, this is called a dependency claim, and it is calculated based on the net income of the deceased person.

The other types of damages you can sue for include, but are not limited to, the following: loss of care and companionship, travel expenses of when the dependents visited the hospital to care for the now deceased person, loss of childcare services that would have been provided by the now deceased person, medical and prescription expenses prior to death, and funeral expenses.