Fatal Accident
Each year, 3,200 people are killed on the roads in the United Kingdom. Fatal accident claims need to be dealt with with a special level of expertise and grieving families need to be treated with special care and consideration.
In many cases, but particularly road traffic accidents, the Police will appoint a family liason officer who is your first point of contact with the Police and who should be able to explain to you the procedures involved in the police investigation, Coroner's Inquest and any criminal and how these relate to your particular case. The Officer may not have all of the answers you are seeking, certainly not at first, or may not be able to tell you somethings as this may prejudice any police investigation.
The Coroner
There will always be an inquest held in a Coroner's Court when someone is killed in a road traffic accident in England and Wales. The Coroner's Court is alot less formal than the Criminal or Civil Courts, with no fancy robes or wigs and is conducted in a quiet manner. Coroner's Courts are not as intimidating as other Courts.
The purpose of the Coroner's Inquest is not to approtion blame or determine any criminal liability, although evidence which may be helpful in establishing liability (fault) in a civil claim for damages often comes to light at the inquest. The purpose of the inquest is to establish who the deceased was, how he/she died and the cause his/her death, although the answers to some of these questions may seem obvious.
It is rare to find a Coroner or any of his/her staff who are not sympathetic, polite and helpful and they are aware that they are dealing with breaved families in traumatic circumstances.
In road traffic accident cases, other than in very exceptional of circumstances, there will be a detailed police accident report, where a specialist police accident investigator will examine all of the evidence available at the scene what the witnesses have said. However, police accident investigators can make mistakes and we will commission our own accident reconstruction experts in cases where liability is disputed.
When instructed to act by you, we will arrange for legal representation for you at the Coroner's Court. It should be noted however, that the Coroner can stop us asking any question which he doesn’t feel is helpful to the Court. The third party involved in the accident very rarely gives evidence at or attends the Coroner's Court, even if he/she does it is unlikely that the Coroner will allow us to ask him/her any questions.
Criminal Proceedings
It may be that as a result of a death arising out of an accident, partiuclarly a road traffic accident that the police will charge a third party with a criminal offence but and the specific offence charged will depend upon the nature of the evidence available to the police.
In road traffic accident claims the charge is usually one of Causing Death by Dangerous Driving, or Driving without Due Care and Attention, the first offence being the more serious and rarer of the two.
If the more serious charge of Causing Death by Dangerous Driving is brought then the Coroner's Inquest will not take place until after the conclusion of these criminal proceedings. The Inquest will be opened and then adjourned until after the criminal case has finished.
If a charge of Driving Without Due Care and Attention is brought then usually the Coroner's Inquest will take place first.
Probate
The personal represtative of the deceased, usually a spouse, parent or adult child will need to obtain a Grant of Probate to be able to deal with the deceased's property and financial affairs.
If the deceased left a will, the representaive will be the Executor of the Estate, or an Administrator if there is no will. Many banks and financial institutions will deal with the deceased's affairs without a Grant of Probate if the Estate is worth less than £15,000.00. Any legal costs incurred in obtaining a Grant of Probate can be recovered as part of a claim for compensation from any party found to be liable for the accident.
Claims for Compensation
A civil claim for compensation (damages) can be split into 3 different parts:
Alot of insurance companies when faced with a claim for compensation are co-operative and humane when they are dealing with bereaved families and fatal accident claims, however some insurance companies can be uncaring and seem unpleasent to bereaved families and in these circumstances you will need a good firm of solicitors acting for you.
1. Funeral and Associated Expenses
These also include the costs of instructing a probate solicitor to deal with the will, headstone insurance, the costs of the wake and funeral itself, clothing and the motorcycle. All of these costs can be recovered. Insurance companies sometimes can be aggressive about the style of funeral which is adopted, but so long we can show evidence that the funeral was not excessive, then the headstone, funeral expenses and everything else related to the funeral can be recouped.
2. Bereavement Damages
For accidents in or after April 2002 the bereavement award is a one off payment of £10,000.00. There are only certain people who are entiled to claim this sum and the categories of these people are restricted and include:
(a) Spouses
(b) Legitimate Children (under 18 years old )of the deceased
(c) Parents of a Legitimate Child
(d) The Mother of an deceased Child who was illegitimate.
Unless you fall into one of the above categories you are not entitled to a bereavement award. Fathers of illegitimate children and co-habitees cannot claim nor can same sex couples.*
3. Dependency
This head of claim is usually the largest of the three and is designed to put you in as close a position as you could be financially, had the deceased not died.
For you to bring a dependency claim you will need to show that you were dependent upon the deceased and you would have carried on being dependent.
The Courts presume that if you were either married to or living with the deceased, or the child of the deceased, then you are a dependent. A dependent can be either the spouse or former spouse of the deceased, a person who was living with the deceased as though they were married for at least two years prior to the date of death, any parent, grandparent, great grandparent and so on still surviving of the deceased, or any person who was treated by the deceased as his parent, any child or other descendent of the deceased or any other person not being a child of the deceased who was treated as a child of the family by the deceased and finally anyone who is or the child of a brother, sister, uncle or aunt of the deceased.
If you are the former spouse of the deceased or a step-child of the deceased and were living with the deceased then you are a dependent.
The rules can get very complicated and we strongly recommend that you seek professional legal advice for further details on these points
Please use our enquiry button on the left to ask any questions. Each enquiry is dealt with in confidence and will be answered by our Fatal Accident specialist Tom Ponsonby.
