Lifestyle

How to Pursue a Wrongful Death Claim

Published

2 years ago

February 13, 2024

If someone you love has died because of someone else’s actions or negligence, you may be entitled to compensation via a wrongful death claim. Unfortunately, many people don’t really understand what a wrongful death claim is and aren’t especially motivated to pursue one.

How do you pursue a wrongful death claim and is it worth the time and effort?

Your First Step: Contacting a Lawyer

The first step of the process should always be contacting a wrongful death lawyer. Your lawyer is going to be your personal representative, representing your best interests, helping you understand the law, and advising you on the best course of action for your wrongful death suit. Most wrongful death lawyers are willing to offer an initial, free consultation, so there’s no real risk or downside to contacting one to determine if you have a reasonable wrongful death claim on your hands.

Upon first contact, your lawyer may inform you that this wrongful death claim isn’t worth pursuing, for one reason or another. If your claim is worth pursuing, however, they’ll help you understand the first steps of the process and provide you with instructions for how to conduct yourself from here.

What Is a Wrongful Death Claim?

In case you aren’t familiar, a wrongful death claim is a civil claim filed against an individual or an organization that was responsible for a person’s wrongful death. Wrongful death can occur in many situations and for many reasons, but it’s usually associated with an intentionally harmful action, malpractice, or negligence.

Wrongful death claims are often (but not only) filed in the events of wrongful death on the job, car accidents, medical malpractice, and product liability issues. If a person died because of someone else’s actions or lack of actions, it could hypothetically qualify as a wrongful death.

When filing a wrongful death claim, plaintiffs seek compensation from defendants. Compensation can be awarded for:

Medical bills. If there were significant medical bills incurred as a result of this action or accident, the defendant may be responsible for reimbursing you for them. Any medical expenses associated with this particular event may be included.
Funeral expenses. The defendant may also be responsible for compensating you for funeral expenses. The amount awarded may vary depending on several variables.
Mental pain and suffering. Losing a loved one is horrific, and typically causes significant pain and suffering. While it’s hard to put a price tag on pain and suffering, most guilty defendants in wrongful death claims end up paying at least some money in compensation for this.
Loss of support and services. Compensation is also frequently awarded for loss of support and services. If you relied on this person for income, important responsibilities, or just help around the house, it needs to be acknowledged.
Loss of future earnings. Loss of future earnings is what it sounds like; it’s compensation for the earnings this person would have had were it not for the wrongful death.

Who Can Sue?

In most cases, spouses, children, and other close relatives can sue for wrongful death. However, there are some jurisdictions and some specific scenarios in which other people can sue for wrongful death as well. Talk to your lawyer to find out who can file a claim in your area.

Important Considerations

There are some important considerations you’ll need to bear in mind before beginning to pursue a wrongful death claim:

The statute of limitations. Understand that there’s a statute of limitations for wrongful death claims. The exact length of time varies from location to location, but you’ll usually only have a year to a few years before you’re no longer able to file a claim.
Evidence. If you want to prove that the defendant is responsible for the wrongful death, you’ll need evidence to do it. Your lawyer can guide you with more specific detail here, but you should do everything you can to gather and preserve evidence that shows what happened.
Proving negligence. Proving negligence can be difficult in a court of law, as you’ll have to prove four separate things: duty of care, a breach of duty, causation, and damages.
Timelines. Wrongful death claims can sometimes take a long time to pursue. It may also take some time and energy on your part. Make sure you’re prepared for this before you begin the journey.
Fees. Many wrongful death attorneys will not charge you unless you win compensation. Either way, make sure you understand the fees for which you are responsible before you enlist these professional services.

Tragedies can never be undone, but it is possible to seek justice and compensation with the help of a skilled attorney. If you’ve recently lost a loved one in an event that was attributable to someone else, it’s a good idea to talk to a lawyer as soon as possible.

Lifestyle

Why Toba Ogunremi Believes High-Performing Teams Start with Belonging, Not Pressure

Published

13 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Michelle Langton

Most teams don’t fall apart all at once. It happens slowly, missed conversations, quiet disengagement, people doing what’s required but nothing more.

Toba Ogunremi has spent years working inside care environments where that kind of shift is easy to miss until it starts affecting everything. Leading operations at Samorem Care in the UK, he has seen how systems can appear stable on the surface while teams underneath struggle to stay connected to their work.

One experience early in his career changed how he looks at leadership entirely.

He had taken over a team that wasn’t in crisis, but it wasn’t working well either. The people receiving care were safe, but they weren’t thriving. The same was true for the staff. There was no urgency, no energy, just routine.

The usual solution would have been to tighten control by setting new targets, increasing supervision, and creating performance plans. He didn’t do any of that.

“I started with conversations,” he says. “Real ones. Not rushed, not formal.”

One by one, he spoke to each team member. What came out wasn’t frustration with the job itself, but something quieter and harder to spot.

“They weren’t disengaged because they didn’t care,” he explains. “They were disengaged because they felt unseen.”

No one had asked what they thought. No one had taken the time to understand how they were coping. Over time, that absence had turned into distance. That moment stayed with him. It shaped how he leads today.

His approach is simple, but not always easy to apply: people perform better when they feel they belong.

He believes high performance usually comes when people feel like they genuinely belong and know that what they do actually matters.

In healthcare, where pressure is constant and expectations are high, this idea can sound secondary. The focus is often on outcomes, compliance, and efficiency. Toba doesn’t dismiss those things, but he questions what happens when they become the only focus.

Even when all the processes are in place, if the people delivering the care feel disconnected, it eventually reflects in the quality of the work.

At Samorem Care, this thinking shows up in small but consistent ways. Recruitment is not just about experience. It’s about how someone responds to people, how they handle pressure, and how they communicate. Once they are in, the focus shifts to keeping teams stable and supported, rather than constantly rotating staff or reacting only when something goes wrong. He also pays attention to how leaders show up day to day.

According to him, leadership is not just about giving direction; it’s about being present enough to understand what your team actually needs.

That presence matters more in care than in most industries. The work is demanding, often emotional, and not always recognised for what it takes. When teams feel stretched or overlooked, it affects how they interact with the people they support.

For Toba, resilience is less about constant pressure and more about creating a work environment where people can do their jobs well without burning out. In his view, strong teams are not just coping; they are supported enough to stay clear-headed and consistent in their work.

His background outside healthcare still shapes how he leads. Having worked in sales and communications, he understands how important it is to read people and build trust. In healthcare, though, the impact is far more direct, as decisions affect someone’s everyday life, not just an outcome on paper.

That shift makes leadership more personal. Teams need more than instructions; they need stability, clarity, and a sense that they are understood. What defines Toba Ogunremi’s approach is its simplicity. He focuses on being consistent, listening carefully, and addressing issues early rather than reacting late.

In the end, his belief is straightforward: teams perform better not because they are pushed harder, but because they feel valued and part of something that works.