Legal Question in Personal Injury in South Carolina
wrongful death
Do i need an attorney to file a wrongful death suit since the muderer has already pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter of my son. We were never informed of our rights to restitution during the court proceedings
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: wrongful death
Yes, you do. A person has a legal right to file a law suit without an attorney. However, lawsuits are a complicated process that must be done in strict compliance with various laws, statute, court rules, etc. The paperwork itself must be near perfect, there are service of process requirements, certain notice requirements, you would then need to go through the discovery process involving interogatories, request for admissions, production of documents, depositions, etc. Then you would need to be totally prepared to go to trial. The fact that the individual plead guilty is certainly helpful. However, without an attorney its likely that an insurance company is not going to take you seriously and will hire a defense firm that will take advantage of your lack of knowledge of the legal process. You are welcome to call or email for guideance or question. Robert Johnston [email protected]
Re: wrongful death
If there are any assets or insurance coverage from which to recover, then it might be worth pursuing a wrongful death and/or survival action.
If you would like additional information about this or related topics, you can visit my personal injury law blog (www.SCPILaw.com) or our firm's website (www.StevensFirm.com).
If I can assist you further, please do not hesitate to contact my office. Thanks and good luck, Ben Stevens