Ep. 77 – Wrongful Death Claims After Truck Crashes: What Families Need to Know

Transcript

Episode 77: Wrongful Death Claims After Truck Crashes: What Families Need to Know: A Conversation with Ashley Napier

David Craig: I don’t think there’s any greater honor than to be entrusted by our clients to help them figure out how this semi wreck happened. How we protect their family. We can’t make things better in the sense of we can’t put it back the way it was, but we can fight hard to make life easier for the families. And hopefully, sometimes we get to change things by implementing policies or procedures that help ensure that these type of wrecks don’t happen in the future. I’m Attorney Dave Craig, managing partner, and one of the founders of the law firm of Craig, Kelley, and Faultless. I’ve represented people who have been seriously injured, or who have had a family member killed in a semi or other big truck wreck, for over 30 years. Following the wreck, their lives are chaos. Often they don’t even know enough about the process to ask the right questions. It is my goal to empower you by providing you with the information you need to protect yourself and your family. In each and every episode, I will interview top experts and professionals that are involved in truck wreck cases. In the Ask David episodes of After the Crash, we switch things up. Instead of me asking questions, I answer the questions. Nothing’s off limits, and they ask me about truck safety, about truck accidents, about semi-truck litigation, about commercial motor vehicle wrecks. You name it, I talk about it. This is After the Crash.

Ashley Napier: Hi everyone. Welcome to another episode of After the Crash podcast, Ask David edition. My name is Ashley Napier. I am the host of the Ask David edition. This month, I thought that it would be a good idea to talk about wrongful death cases, and the types of recoveries that we can make. So unfortunately, in the business that we are in, our clients come to us after losing loved ones, after they’ve been hit by a commercial motor vehicle, an Amazon truck, a FedEx truck, or a UPS truck. And so David, I wanted to talk to you about what types of claims can come from a wrongful death case.

David Craig: All right. Well, thanks Ashley. Welcome everybody back to another episode of Ask David, After the Crash series. Yeah, so unfortunately, when you get hit by 40 tons, whether it’s a flatbed truck, a garbage… Any type of commercial vehicle, a bus, like you said an Amazon, FedEx or UPS or any type of semi, the consequences are devastating. And unfortunately, all too often, people die. And it’s usually not the truck driver that dies, it’s the people in the vehicle, in the cars that die. And so we get hired, right, routinely by families who’ve lost loved ones as a result of semi-tractor trailer wrecks. And so we deal with wrongful death cases. And not everybody understands, or knows about wrongful death claims. And so, I think it is a great topic, and it’s something we get asked a lot from people, clients and other folks are just like, “Hey, we’ve lost a loved one as a result of the wreck. So what’s involved in filing a wrongful death claim? What can be recovered? Who can make the claim?” All those type of things are things that we routinely get asked.

Ashley Napier: Yes, absolutely. And I think that it’s one that I hope none of the listeners ever have to deal with. And I think that there are definitely nuances that you have to do in order… On the front end of a wrongful death case. Could you talk about, at least right off the bat, what we need to do, in terms of setting up an estate?

David Craig: Yeah, so in the very beginning, it’s like any other semi wreck. The wreck happens, and the families are devastated. So sometimes folks don’t die at the scene, they go to the hospital, and then unfortunately pass away at the hospital. We’ve had cases where they’ve been in comas for months, and then pass away. And so I think it’s important to understand that families are grieving. They’re struggling. Oftentimes, family comes from all over the country to the hospital, or to the family’s home, unfortunately, to bury their loved ones. And so the last thing they’re thinking about is making a claim against a trucking company. They may be angry about it. They may not understand what happened, or how it happened. So the very first thing in a wrongful death case is securing an attorney. I would recommend somebody who is board certified in truck accident law. Securing an attorney that has the assets and the teams to go out and investigate the wreck, because you’ve got other things. You’re going to have to be dealing with the funeral, and the arrangements, and getting family together, and all those type of things. And so you need somebody looking out for your family’s claim. And so reaching out to an attorney who does trucking law, who has a rapid response team, or a group of people who they can put out there right away to start investigating, locating vehicles. The trucking company, they start immediately. They have a team, as soon as that wreck happens, oftentimes, the truck driver will radio, or call dispatch even before they call 911 sometimes. And those trucking companies, and their insurance carriers, they have agreements with lawyers to get to the scene of the wreck within so many hours of the wreck, in so many hours, and they have the same lawyers. So they hire law firms that represent them on any and all cases, in certain regions. And these defense lawyers will oftentimes get there, either the attorney, or they’ll have a team that gets there. So the victim’s family needs that as well. So, I think the very first thing, if somebody’s been in one of these wrecks, is find yourself a good personal injury lawyer who does truck accident law, who is board certified, who has a team, who has enough people and resources to fight the trucking company.

Ashley Napier: We like to believe that everybody’s inherently going to look out for those that are injured. And unfortunately, I think that we’ve seen in the past, that the trucking company is only really looking out for their bottom-line, in most cases. Especially when it comes to something catastrophic.

David Craig: I’ve seen evidence disappear. We’ve seen evidence… We’ve seen trucks moved into other states immediately after the wreck. We’ve seen underride guards disappear. We’ve seen trucks being modified, or brake systems repaired. We’ve seen so many things. We’ve seen witnesses affected by the defense team that’s at the scene, when they’re talking to them. And so, you cannot assume. You’re absolutely right. You do not assume that people are going to be motivated by the right things. You can’t assume that the police are going to do a complete investigation. They’re usually more worried about getting the roads open, than they are about conducting an investigation. They will do their part. Some depends on what part of the state you’re in. Depends on what state you’re in. Some have accident reconstruction and some don’t. So you have to assume that you need to hire people. And the great thing is, the personal injury attorneys don’t get paid, and they don’t ask you for money upfront. So they will advance expenses to hire whatever kind of reconstructionists, mechanics, whatever type of experts they need, so that somebody can start working on protecting your family, at the same time that their defense is protecting their trucking company and their insurance carriers.

Ashley Napier: Yeah, that’s a great point. And I think, from at least a paralegal’s perspective, I think that there’s something to be said, at least for our team of paralegals here, that from the second that family calls, we do everything in our power to take things off the family’s plate. Their focus needs to be in grieving. Their focus needs to be the children that could be missing a parent. So the paralegals here really pride themselves on, “Okay, what can I take off this family’s plate? What can I coordinate for them? What can I help them do?” And I think that is pretty invaluable, and I think our clients would say that wholeheartedly. So in terms of the family, I know that there are caps depending on the type of person that unfortunately loses their life. Can you talk about what that would be, and the different types of wrongful death estates, depending on the person that’s lost their life?

David Craig: Yeah. So generally, I think people need to know that this is 2026. The law of wrongful death hasn’t changed this year. And there are basically three different types of wrongful death cases. So you have an ordinary wrongful death, where you have a spouse, or children, minor children. You have, and dependents. And then you have child wrongful death, where a child is killed, that’s under the age of 18 or not in college. And then you have what is called an adult wrongful death with no dependents. And so that’s people that are grown. You may still have parents that are alive. You may have siblings. And you may have grown children, but you don’t have any spouse that’s alive, and you don’t have any dependent children, or anybody else that’s dependent upon you. And so those are the three basic kinds of wrongful death cases. And there is no cap on two of the three. So two of the three types of wrongful death claims, there’s no cap. So there’s no… And a cap means, the government has arbitrarily picked a number, and said, this is how much money you can get for these types of cases. And some states have that. We handled a wrongful death case involving UPS out in Iowa, where an Iowa UPS truck killed somebody. And we handled that case. And there now, is a cap in Iowa on some cases; on some types of cases. And so other states have caps. But Indiana only has a cap on the adult with no dependents. So the adult with no spouse, no dependents, they’re the only one that has a cap. And that means that the most money you can get in Indiana for the loss of someone that has no dependents, and no spouse, is $300,000. Now, on top of that, you can claim attorney fees, medical expenses, cost of probating the estate, those types of expenses. But just think of that. So my children are all grown, and they’re not dependent upon me, and they’re all married. If one of them was not married, and had no children, the thought that that life was worth $300,000 to me is outrageous. And yet, that’s what the cap is. And that’s really sad, because a life is worth far more than $300,000. And so a semi can kill somebody, and in the State of Indiana, that has no dependents, who’s not married, and they only have to pay $300,000… And plus the medical expenses, and the attorney fees, and the cost of probate, but they only have to pay $300,000. And so what’s really sad is, that in some ways, an injury claim, oftentimes, is worth more than $300,000. The defense has to pay, on some people catastrophically injured, far more than $300,000 as settlement or a jury verdict. So in Indiana, at least, it’s cheaper to kill somebody in some situations, than it is to hurt them. And that to me, as a human being, as a plaintiff lawyer, as a truck accident lawyer, is ridiculous, is horrible. I think we should be able to trust juries to decide what the value of a life is, and listen to the evidence, listen to the family, listen to the loss of love. How impactful was this person in other people’s lives? Is it somebody who has a relationship, who comes over and sees? What about nieces and nephews, and they come over and visit. And whatever, grandkids. And so I trust juries, juries get it right. But in Indiana, that’s a cap.

Ashley Napier: Yeah, you hear $300,000 for a life, and it is just so jarring, because I’ve not met a single person that I would say, “Oh yeah, $300,000 fully covers it.” You did talk a little bit about setting up the estate, and things like that. Could you talk about… So in order to set up an estate, you have to have a personal representative. Could you talk about who serves as a personal representative, and their role?

David Craig: Yeah, I can. And so it used to be, there was a race to the courthouse, and whoever set up the estate first, typically, was the person representative. And so when there was a wrongful death case, sometimes you had all kinds of different family members, or people not even family members, filing the wrongful death estate. And so wrongful death estate is different than the normal estate. And so you file it, and typically, it’s the spouse, or the children, or the parents of the person who dies. So sometimes, it’s a mom and dad are divorced, and so they may both file. And the personal representative is not necessarily the person who gets the money. Although, they can be paid as personal representative, but it’s the person who hires the lawyers, who makes sure that the investigation is getting done, and who helps and guides the lawsuit, or claim against the trucking company. And so the personal representative will be varied depending on what type of wrongful death case it is. For example, a children wrongful death estate, which we didn’t talk about yet, but a children wrongful death estate is, you don’t have to open an estate. So you can settle that case without opening an estate. You can open one, it’s optional. We oftentimes will do it. And then with respect to a regular wrongful death estate, where there is a spouse, or a dependent, then you open the estate, and typically, it’s oftentimes, a spouse or somebody else. Now, normally, like in Indiana, if you’ve been convicted of a felony, that may disqualify you. If you’re not of age, that may disqualify you. And if you don’t live in the State of Indiana, that may disqualify you, or someone else may be better fitted. So you get with an attorney, an attorney will go through the checklist with you, and decide who’s the best person. So oftentimes, a spouse may not be able to deal with the wrongful death case. And so they’ll ask one of their children, adult children, to be the personal representative. So one of the things, I guess I would say, with dependency… So the other type of wrongful death is, the child wrongful death case, and the adult with a dependent or a spouse. And I think sometimes lawyers miss this, and we see this. So you could have an adult that has no dependents, no children, who has not married, but yet has family members who are dependent upon them. So you could have an adult whose parents, for example… They may have elderly parents, or parents who may not even be elderly, but parents who they support. And so this adult child who has no dependents, no kids, they may be supporting their parent. They may be supporting… Some other ones may have adult children who are no longer living at home. They’re no longer, what you would normally consider, dependents, but they’re supporting and… And their children, or sometimes, we’ve even had cases where they’re supporting their grandchildren. So we’ve had cases where grandchildren, children, parents, siblings, are dependent upon this adult who gets killed. And so then, that takes that case out of the adult wrongful death cap of 300,000. And so it is critical that you determine, not just is the person not married, and does this person not have kids, but you have to look at it and say, “Wait a minute. Is there anybody out there that is dependent upon this individual?” And if so, then a cap should not apply. And in my law firm, I give Scott Faultless, my partner, credit. He has actually gone in front of the judges, and argued, and had other people established as dependents, that normally I think, a lot of lawyers would’ve missed, because they didn’t ask the right questions. But asking the right questions in the very beginning to see who, if anybody, is dependent upon this young person, this adult with no dependents, is critical. A child wrongful death is different. I mean, if a child dies, and they’re under the age of 18, or they’re in college, typically, or trade school, then there’s no cap on them as well. So obviously, they don’t have anybody dependent upon them, but they also… There’s no cap on those wrongful death cases.

Ashley Napier: Yeah, I think, when I first started in this business, I just figured, okay, the child’s not a minor, therefore no dependency. But I think that that’s something that, even in the beginning of cases we do now, is who is dependent? And even if it’s questionable, we dig in further. We have those conversations with the clients, or the families, and try to see, can we get out of that cap? Because, as we said in the beginning, $300,000 is nothing when it comes to the loss of the life.

David Craig: And you have to be able to prove that.

Ashley Napier: Obviously.

David Craig: So that’s where paralegals come in, you’ll ask questions. You’ll talk to them. But we have a case right now, in a wrongful death, and we’re showing dependency. And we have to get bank records. We have to show money being transferred. We have to show rent being paid, or vet bills. Or we have to show grandkids being supported through their schools, or cars being purchased, rent or mortgage payments being made. So you have to start establishing that. And you don’t want to do that later. You want to do that sooner, so you know which case to bring. And so that’s where the lawyers… If you’re a lawyer, and you’re looking at it, and you have a wrongful death in your family, and the person doesn’t have a spouse or children, young children, then you need to go talk to an attorney. And you believe that there are people dependent upon that person. You need to make sure the attorneys that you hire understand that, because that makes a huge difference in the value of a life. And it takes away that $300,000 cap, and gets you back into what it should be, which is ultimately a jury’s decision.

Ashley Napier: Yeah, absolutely. I think that would be the biggest conversation that I would implore people to have with, if you are in that situation where you have lost a loved one, and there’s not dependency. At least, have that conversation, hopefully, with a board certified attorney in truck accident law that can help to answer them, and properly guide you through the process. I don’t know if I have any more questions for you, Dave. Did I exhaust the subject, or did you-

David Craig: I think you did a great job. And I will tell you, Ashley is a wonderful… And I’ve probably said this before, but Ashley runs our litigation department here at Craig, Kelley, and Faultless. And she was one of the best paralegals I’ve ever met handling cases. But now, she actually makes sure that the lawyers, the legal assistants, and the attorneys all work together on pushing a case. And it’s not easy. And before I ask you a question, I’ll put you on the spot. Let me tell the audience this, that wrongful death cases have a two-year statute of limitation. So if you’re handling a wrongful death case in the State of Indiana, you have to wait two years, or you cannot file a claim after two years. So you want to make sure that you hire an attorney. Now, I will tell you, you don’t want to wait. You need to hire an attorney immediately. But the statute of limitations is two years in Indiana for wrongful death states. Now, I will tell you that wrongful death cases are extraordinarily difficult from an emotional standpoint for your staff. People who care cannot be unaffected by these stories, these cases. I know Ashley has been. She’s a very compassionate person, and has been affected multiple times on these cases. I keep pictures of loved ones that lost their lives. Family will send me pictures. And I keep them on my desk, because that is what gets me up in the morning. That’s how I come in here on Saturdays, sometimes Sundays. And it keeps me here late at night, because you’re looking at this, and you’re like, no matter how hard you’re working, no matter what’s going on in your own personal life, you didn’t lose a loved one. And we take that serious and we care. And we have a social worker here who works with our clients, who helps try to give them resources. Helps guide them through the process. But our paralegals really, really are the ones who communicate with the clients on a regular basis. And so how hard… Tell us a little bit about how challenging, and what’s different about these types of cases.

Ashley Napier: I think, that right off the bat, it’s communicating with the family, and it does take a toll, but I couldn’t choose a better profession. I do feel like every day I make a difference. And like you said, it’s why I get up in the morning. I think, that in my personal life, I’ve had some challenges with my own family. So I look at it like, I treat people and treat families the way that I would want to be treated, when I was in that situation. And so I think that just being there, and knowing that although you have a job to do for this family, and you are going to fight for them, you also have to have that social worker, or counselor, because they are going to have a lot of questions. They might want to just spend time talking to you about stories of the loved one that they lost. And I’m here for all the stories. I cherish the time that I get to talk to our clients about their loved ones. I cry in my office quite often, just because of everything. And I view it as if it were my family member. I’m going to fight for them like they were my family.

David Craig: I don’t think there’s any greater honor than to be entrusted by our clients to help them figure out how this semi wreck happened? How do we protect their family? We can’t make things better, in the sense of, we can’t put it back the way it was, but we can fight hard to make life easier for the families. And hopefully, sometimes we get to change things by implementing policies or procedures that help ensure that these type of wrecks don’t happen in the future. Well, Ashley, thank you so much for hosting again on the After the Crash. You did a wonderful job, as always.

Ashley Napier: Hey, thank you.

David Craig: What happens if people have a question-

Ashley Napier: I was just going to-

David Craig: … and they want us to cover a topic-

Ashley Napier: Yup.

David Craig: … that you and I haven’t talked about yet? What should they do?

Ashley Napier: Yep. Okay. So if you have a topic suggestion; if you are somebody that would like to be a guest on your podcast, or if you just have a question for David that maybe we’ve covered in this episode, or previous episodes, please, please, please send us an email at afterthecrashpodcast@ckflaw.com. We would love nothing more than to hear from you, and those emails will be answered by David, himself. Or maybe you’ll get the B-team, maybe you’ll get me answering. I don’t know. But we would love nothing more than to hear from you.

David Craig: You’re definitely not the B-team. Thank you, Ashley. Bye everybody.

Ashley Napier: Take care, everyone.

David Craig: This is David Craig, and you’ve been listening to After the Crash. If you’d like more information about me, or my law firm, please go to our website, ckflaw.com. Or if you’d like to talk to me, you can call 1-800-ask-david. If you would like a guide on what to do after a truck, then pick up my book, Semitruck Wreck, A Guide for Victims and Their Families, which is available on Amazon. Or you can download it for free on our website.