Legal Question in Federal Tort Claims in Oregon

wrongfuldeath

do the parents of a 28 year old son have the right to sue for wrongful death if the child was married at the time of death or do the parents have to file a suit with the spouse of the deceased i was told that the parents have to file with the spouse is this true i would like to get this started as soon as possible or can a seperate suit be filed our son was killed at work due to negligence his employer failed to have proper work equipment witch. resulted in the work truck breaking down so our son tried to fix it witch resulted in the truck rolling over him and killing him the starter on the truck was falty,it had been in the shop to be repaired he was out in the woods working by himself and had no way of calling for help and i firmly beleive when you are a logger you should always have a partner with to prevent things like this from happening there was no radio no cb to call for help no phone my son should never have been in a situation like this to where he had to take it appon himself to try and fix a truck to get back to his crew that should have been fixed in the fisrt place my sons life should never have ended this way he had a family a wife ,5 kids and parents that loved him very much, a sister and three nephews. thanks


Asked on 7/02/05, 5:55 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sam Hochberg Sam Hochberg & Associates

Re: wrongfuldeath

I'm so sorry to hear of what happened to your son. I can't think of too many things worse than going through the death of an adult child.

You didn't mention what state this happened in, but I'm guessing it's Oregon, since that's how this posting was labeled. IF so, in terms of pursuing this claim, the procedure is usually this: The Personal Representative of the Estate of your son - also called the "Administrator" or "Executor" - THAT is the only person who has the authority to file a Wrongful Death claim. IF an estate is NOT yet set up, then ANYBODY can apply to be the PR, the personal representative, by just starting up an estate. BEST is if you can get approval and written consent by the wife, to allow you to be the PR, if that's what you want.

So, in other words, the widow can file, you can file, or even one of your son's creditors can actually open an estate, to suit their purposes, in a sense.

The ONLY PROPER PARTY to pursue a WRONGFUL DEATH claim in Oregon is the PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE of the Estate. If you want to pursue it, DON'T WORRY about the estate stuff, so long as one isn't set up yet. Just go to a LAWYER who is familiar with Wrongful Death cases, that's all. Ordinarily, the attorney who is representing the Estate is the one who also pursues the death claim as well.

Good luck, and let me know if I may be of any further assistance.

Regards,

Sam Hochberg

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Answered on 7/02/05, 6:08 pm


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