Nashville Fatal Motorcycle Accidents

Tennessee law defines a wrongful death as a death caused by injuries received from another person or by someone else’s wrongful act, omission, or killing. When another person causes a loved one to die in a motorcycle accident, a wrongful death lawsuit may be brought against the party or parties responsible. Tennessee, like every other state, has its own hierarchy regarding which family members have priority to file a wrongful death lawsuit. For example, the decedent’s surviving spouse is normally the first one entitled to file, but the next of kin or surviving children have the right to file if there is no surviving spouse. However, if none of the aforementioned members are living, filing may be done by the personal representative of the decedent’s estate.

When pursuing compensation after a loved one has died in a motorcycle crash that occurred in Davidson County, you will likely have to show that the other driving was negligent in order to establish liability. The defendant’s negligence can be established by proving that the other driver owed the motorcyclist a duty to use reasonable care while driving but breached that duty, which resulted in the motorcyclist being fatally injured or killed. Since the statute of limitations in Tennessee to bring a wrongful death lawsuit against a negligent driver is one year from the date of the accident, you should retain a motorcycle accident attorney in the Nashville area as soon as possible.

Many fatal accidents cause both monetary and intangible losses for those involved. When surviving family members bring a wrongful death lawsuit, they may recover compensatory damages for their losses. For example, if the motorcyclist had died in a hospital a couple of days after the accident, the surviving family members may be awarded economic damages for medical bills in addition to funeral and burial expenses. Loss of consortium, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering, and other intangible losses experienced by the surviving family members may entitle them to non-economic damages. Damages for the decedent’s pain and suffering can be recovered as well.