Lost a Loved One to Negligence?
We Fight for the Family They Left Behind.
Page updated October 2026
We represent Long Island families in wrongful death cases from our Huntington Station office. In New York the estate’s personal representative brings the claim within two years of the death (EPTL §5-4.1) and recovers the family’s financial losses: lost support, services and parental guidance, and medical and funeral costs. No fee unless we recover for you.
Serving Long Island, Nassau County, Suffolk County & All of NYC
$100M+
Recovered
24+
Years Experience
$0
Upfront Cost
24/7
Available
Quick Answer
Wrongful death settlements on Long Island typically range from $500,000 to several million dollars, depending on the decedent’s age, earning capacity, and family circumstances. Under EPTL §5-4.1, the personal representative of the estate must file suit within 2 years of the date of death. New York does not cap wrongful death damages, but EPTL §5-4.3 limits them to pecuniary losses (plus punitive damages where the decedent could have recovered them): grief and loss of companionship are not recoverable, because the Grieving Families Act has not become law (vetoed December 5, 2025; the 2026 bill is in committee).
Last updated: October 2026 · Every case is unique — these ranges reflect general Long Island outcomes and are not guarantees.
Wrongful Death Claims We Handle
How Did Your Loved One Die?
Proven Track Record
Results for Grieving Families
No amount of money replaces a loved one. But financial accountability holds negligent parties responsible and secures your family's future.
$4.5M
Construction Accident Death
Scaffold collapse killed father of three — employer lacked fall protection
$3.8M
Medical Malpractice Death
Delayed cancer diagnosis led to terminal progression in 42-year-old mother
$2.5M
Truck Collision Fatality
Tractor-trailer rear-ended sedan on LIE — driver was over federal hours limit
$2.1M
Workplace Accident Death
Electrocution at job site due to unmarked live wiring and OSHA violations
$1.8M
Nursing Home Neglect Death
Fall and sepsis in Suffolk County facility — chronic understaffing documented
$1.2M
Pedestrian Hit-and-Run Death
Crosswalk fatality in Nassau County — hit-and-run driver identified through investigation
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique.
Simple Process
Three Steps to Hold Them Accountable
Call or Click
Reach us 24/7 at (516) 750-0595 or fill out our online form. We respond with compassion and urgency.
Free Compassionate Case Review
We listen to your family's story, review the circumstances of the death, explain your legal options under EPTL §5-4.1, and outline next steps clearly.
We Fight for Your Family
We handle the investigation, estate coordination, insurance negotiations, and litigation. Your family focuses on grieving and healing. We don't get paid until you do.
Why Tenenbaum Law
A Firm That Understands What Your Family Is Going Through
Wrongful death cases demand more than legal skill — they require sensitivity, patience, and an unwavering commitment to the family left behind. Jason Tenenbaum has spent 24 years fighting for Long Island families in Nassau and Suffolk County courts, and he brings that experience to every wrongful death case we handle.
Estate & Probate Coordination
We handle letters of administration, Surrogate's Court filings, and personal representative appointments so you don't have to navigate probate while grieving.
Multi-Party Liability Experience
Many wrongful deaths involve multiple responsible parties — employers, property owners, manufacturers, contractors. We identify and pursue every liable party.
Maximum Compensation Strategy
We pursue every category of damages — economic loss, loss of parental guidance, funeral expenses, conscious pain before death — using actuarial experts and forensic economists.
Compassionate Client-First Approach
Families in crisis need more than a lawyer — they need support. We communicate clearly, move at your pace, and never lose sight of the human cost behind the case.
"After we lost my husband in a construction accident, Jason's office handled everything — the estate paperwork, the insurance companies, all of it. They treated us like family during the worst time of our lives and fought until we got justice."
Maria S.
Wrongful Death — Construction Accident
New York Wrongful Death Law
What Is a Wrongful Death Claim in New York?
New York's wrongful death framework is governed by specific statutes with strict procedural requirements. Here's what every Long Island family needs to know.
EPTL §5-4.1 — Who Can Sue
Only the personal representative of the decedent's estate may bring a wrongful death action, and only if the decedent left distributees. This is typically the executor named in a will or an administrator appointed by Nassau or Suffolk County Surrogate's Court. Damages go to the distributees in proportion to each one's pecuniary loss, as the court decides (EPTL §5-4.4).
EPTL §5-4.3 — Recoverable Damages
New York wrongful death damages are limited to pecuniary losses: lost support, lost services, loss of parental guidance, possible inheritance, medical expenses before death, and funeral costs, with interest from the date of death. Punitive damages are allowed where the decedent could have recovered them (EPTL §5-4.3(b)). Economic experts and actuaries are essential.
Survival Actions vs. Wrongful Death
A survival action (EPTL §11-3.2) compensates the estate for the decedent's conscious pain and suffering before death — a separate claim from wrongful death. Our firm pursues both simultaneously. If your loved one suffered before passing at a Long Island hospital or accident scene, that suffering has value.
Critical Deadlines
The statute of limitations for wrongful death is 2 years from the date of death. Claims against a town, county or village (Town of Hempstead, Nassau County, Suffolk County) require a Notice of Claim within 90 days after the estate’s representative is appointed (General Municipal Law §50-e), and the MTA and LIRR have their own notice rules. Do not wait.
Whether the death occurred on the Long Island Expressway, at a Nassau County construction site, or inside a Suffolk County nursing home, our firm brings deep knowledge of local courts, hospitals, and accident-prone areas. Related practice areas: Medical Malpractice • Catastrophic Injury • Car Accidents • Truck Accidents • Personal Injury
Legal Guide
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in New York?
| Circumstances | Settlement Range | Typical Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate (limited dependents, partial liability) | $500,000 – $1,500,000 | 6–18 months |
| Significant (young breadwinner, clear liability) | $1,500,000 – $3,500,000 | 1–2 years |
| Catastrophic (egregious negligence, multiple dependents) | $3,500,000 – $10,000,000+ | 1–3+ years |
Every case is unique. These ranges reflect general Long Island case outcomes and are not guarantees of results.
EPTL §5-4.1 — Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim
EPTL §5-4.1 — Standing Requirement
Only the personal representative of the decedent's estate may file a wrongful death lawsuit in New York. The statute of limitations is 2 years from the date of death — shorter than the standard 3-year personal injury deadline. Claims against a municipality require a Notice of Claim within 90 days after the representative is appointed.
New York law does not allow just anyone to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Under Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) §5-4.1, only the duly appointed personal representative of the deceased person's estate has legal standing to bring a wrongful death action.
This personal representative is either the executor named in the decedent's last will and testament or an administrator appointed by the Surrogate's Court. For Long Island families, this means petitioning the Nassau County Surrogate's Court in Mineola or the Suffolk County Surrogate's Court in Riverhead, depending on where the decedent resided.
The process of obtaining letters testamentary (for executors) or letters of administration (for administrators) can take several weeks. The court follows a statutory priority when granting letters of administration: the surviving spouse first, then the children, the grandchildren, either parent, and brothers or sisters (SCPA 1001). If an executor named in a will refuses to bring the wrongful death action, the distributees are entitled to have an administrator appointed to bring it (EPTL §5-4.1).
This procedural requirement exists because a wrongful death claim is not filed on behalf of any single family member. It is filed on behalf of all statutory distributees — the people who would inherit from the decedent under New York's intestacy laws.
It is critically important to understand the distinction between a wrongful death claim and a survival action, because they compensate for different losses and are governed by different statutes. A wrongful death claim under EPTL §5-4.1 compensates the decedent's surviving family members — the distributees — for the pecuniary losses they suffered as a result of the death. These distributees typically include the surviving spouse, children, and parents.
A survival action under EPTL §11-3.2, on the other hand, belongs to the decedent's estate. It compensates for the damages the deceased person could have recovered had they survived — most notably, the conscious pain and suffering experienced between the time of injury and the time of death, as well as medical bills incurred during that period.
Our firm routinely files both claims simultaneously in every wrongful death case we handle on Long Island. They address different categories of harm and, together, maximize the total recovery available to the family.
Pecuniary Loss — What New York Allows
One of the most distinctive — and for many families, frustrating — aspects of New York wrongful death law is that damages are strictly limited to pecuniary loss. The court looks exclusively at the financial value the deceased person would have provided to their surviving family members had they lived.
The most significant component of pecuniary loss is the decedent's lost financial support. This is calculated based on their earning history, career trajectory, age, health, and life expectancy using actuarial tables. Forensic economists retained by our firm analyze tax returns, pay stubs, employment records, pension and retirement benefits, Social Security projections, and industry earning data to construct a detailed picture of what the deceased would have earned.
For Long Island families, where the cost of living is substantially higher than the national average, these calculations must reflect the true economic reality of supporting a household in Nassau or Suffolk County.
Beyond lost earnings, New York courts recognize several additional categories of pecuniary loss. Loss of parental guidance is a significant element when the deceased was a parent of minor children. This category encompasses the deceased parent's nurturing, moral training, intellectual guidance, educational support, and practical day-to-day care. The Court of Appeals has held that adult children, even financially independent ones, can recover for the loss of a parent's guidance (Gonzalez v New York City Hous. Auth., 77 NY2d 663 [1991]).
Medical and funeral expenses reasonably incurred are also recoverable. Additionally, loss of inheritance — the amount the decedent would have accumulated in savings and assets over their natural life expectancy — can be claimed. Loss of household services, such as home maintenance, childcare, and other contributions the deceased made to the family, can also factor into the calculation.
Perhaps the most significant limitation in New York wrongful death law is what the statute does not allow. Unlike many other states, New York does not permit recovery for grief, sorrow, emotional anguish, loss of companionship, or loss of consortium in a wrongful death action. A parent who loses a child, a spouse who loses a partner of 30 years, a child who loses the only parent they have ever known — none of them can recover a single dollar for the profound emotional devastation they have endured (Gonzalez). The Grieving Families Act, which would allow those damages, is not law: Governor Hochul vetoed the 2025 bill (S4423) on December 5, 2025, and the 2026 bill (S10171) was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 4, 2026. We track it on our wrongful death law reform status page.
This limitation makes the pecuniary loss calculation critically important in every wrongful death case. Every dollar that can be attributed to a quantifiable financial loss must be documented, calculated, and proven. It is one of the primary reasons our firm invests heavily in forensic economists, vocational rehabilitation experts, and actuarial consultants in every wrongful death case we handle. The absence of emotional damages under the statute means the financial case must be built with meticulous precision.
How Long Do I Have to File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in New York?
Wrongful death claims in New York must be filed within two years of the date of death, as specified in EPTL §5-4.1. The statute itself contains one extension: if a criminal action is brought against the same defendant for the same event, the personal representative has at least one year from the end of the criminal case (EPTL §5-4.1(2)).
Notably, this two-year window is shorter than the three-year statute of limitations for ordinary personal injury claims. The wrongful death clock starts on the date of death, not the date of the wrongful act. The estate’s separate survival claim for the decedent’s own injury runs on a different clock: three years from the injury (CPLR 214), with at least one year after the death if the person died before that period ran out (CPLR 210(a)). Our complete New York personal injury statute of limitations guide lays out every deadline side by side, including the wrongful death two-year clock and the 90-day Notice of Claim window.
Special timing issues arise in medical malpractice wrongful death cases. New York's medical malpractice statute of limitations is two years and six months (CPLR §214-a), but it begins running from the malpractice itself or the end of continuous treatment, not the date of death. The wrongful death claim lies only against a defendant who would have been liable to the decedent had the decedent lived (EPTL §5-4.1).
When a patient dies months or even years after a misdiagnosis, surgical error, or medication overdose, the malpractice limitations period may have already expired by the time the family learns the death was caused by medical negligence. These overlapping deadlines create complex timing issues that require immediate legal analysis.
Additionally, claims against municipalities such as Nassau County, Suffolk County, the Town of Hempstead, or the Town of Babylon carry their own timeline: a Notice of Claim must be served within 90 days, and in a wrongful death case those 90 days run from the appointment of the estate’s representative (General Municipal Law §50-e(1)(a)); the lawsuit must be filed within two years after the death (§50-i). The MTA and the Long Island Rail Road have their own notice statutes. Missing a notice deadline can bar the family's claim regardless of how clear the negligence was. Families who suspect wrongful death should consult an attorney immediately, long before any of these deadlines approach.
| Situation | Deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Wrongful death action against a private person or company | 2 years from the date of death | EPTL §5-4.1(1) |
| A criminal case was brought against the same defendant for the same event | At least 1 year from the end of the criminal case, even if the 2 years have run | EPTL §5-4.1(2) |
| Survival claim for the decedent’s own pain and suffering | 3 years from the injury; if death came first, at least 1 year after the death | CPLR 214; CPLR 210(a); EPTL §11-3.2 |
| Death from medical malpractice | Malpractice claim: 2 years 6 months from the act or the end of continuous treatment. Death claim: 2 years from death, against a defendant who would have been liable to the decedent had the decedent lived | CPLR 214-a; EPTL §5-4.1 |
| City, county, town, village, school district or fire district (for example Nassau County, Suffolk County, the Town of Hempstead) | Notice of claim within 90 days after the estate’s representative is appointed; lawsuit at least 30 days after the notice and within 2 years after the death | General Municipal Law §§50-e(1)(a), 50-i(1) |
| State of New York (for example a state highway or state facility) | Claim in the Court of Claims within 90 days after the executor or administrator is appointed, or a notice of intention in that time and the claim within 2 years after the death; never later than 2 years after the death | Court of Claims Act §10(2) |
| MTA, LIRR and other public authorities | Each authority has its own notice and filing statute; treat it as urgent | Public Authorities Law §1276 (MTA) |
| Workers’ compensation death benefits (death on the job) | Claim within 2 years after the death | Workers’ Compensation Law §28 |
Statutes: EPTL §5-4.1, GML §50-e, GML §50-i, Court of Claims Act §10, CPLR 210. A missed deadline can end the claim; call the day you can.
Proving Liability in a Wrongful Death Case
The estate bears the burden of proving four elements in a wrongful death case: that the defendant owed a duty of care to the decedent, that the defendant breached that duty, that the breach was a proximate cause of the death, and that the death resulted in pecuniary damages to the surviving distributees.
The standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence — meaning the estate must show it is more likely than not that the defendant's negligence caused the death. While this is a lower standard than "beyond a reasonable doubt" in criminal cases, wrongful death cases present a unique evidentiary challenge: the primary witness — the deceased person — cannot testify. This absence makes contemporaneous evidence extraordinarily important.
In motor vehicle wrongful death cases, accident reconstruction experts, electronic control module (ECM) data, toxicology reports, police accident reports, surveillance footage, and eyewitness testimony form the evidentiary foundation.
In medical malpractice death cases, the case hinges on autopsy results, pathology reports, complete medical records, and testimony from medical experts who can establish both the applicable standard of care and the physician's deviation from it. Construction accident deaths often involve OSHA investigation reports, site safety logs, equipment maintenance records, and testimony regarding compliance with New York Labor Law §240(1) (the Scaffold Law), which imposes absolute liability on property owners and general contractors when a fall from height or a hoisted load causes the injury.
Our firm works with a network of experts in every relevant discipline — accident reconstructionists, medical specialists, engineers, toxicologists, and economists — to build wrongful death cases that withstand the scrutiny of Nassau and Suffolk County juries.
Areas of Focus
Types of Wrongful Death Cases We Handle
Motor vehicle crashes cause many of the wrongful death cases we see on Long Island. Car accidents, truck collisions, motorcycle crashes, pedestrian strikes, and bicycle accidents take lives across Nassau and Suffolk County, including on heavily traveled corridors such as the Long Island Expressway, Sunrise Highway, Route 110, and the Northern State Parkway.
Truck accident fatalities often involve commercial carriers violating federal hours-of-service regulations, operating with inadequate maintenance, or carrying improperly secured loads. Motorcycle and pedestrian deaths are frequently caused by drivers who fail to check blind spots, run red lights, or drive distracted. In every motor vehicle wrongful death case, our firm immediately works to preserve dashcam and surveillance footage, download electronic data from the vehicles' black boxes, and obtain toxicology results before evidence is lost or destroyed.
Medical malpractice deaths represent another significant area of our wrongful death practice. These cases arise when a healthcare provider's negligence directly causes or hastens a patient's death. We have handled cases involving delayed cancer diagnoses, surgical errors including wrong-site surgery and anesthesia overdoses, medication dosing errors that led to fatal organ failure, and hospital-acquired infections that escalated to sepsis.
Medical malpractice wrongful death cases require expert medical testimony establishing the standard of care, the deviation from that standard, and the causal link between the malpractice and the death. Our firm prepares these elements with the assistance of board-certified physicians in the relevant specialty.
Workplace fatalities, particularly in the construction industry, are tragically common on Long Island, where ongoing residential and commercial development creates hazardous conditions for workers. Falls, slips and trips caused 24 of the 50 construction-sector deaths in New York in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and New York Labor Law §240(1), known as the Scaffold Law, imposes absolute liability on property owners and general contractors when a safety device fails to protect a worker from a fall or a hoisted load. See our construction accident page for how those claims work.
Beyond construction, we handle industrial accident deaths involving machinery entanglement, forklift accidents, trench collapses, and toxic exposure in manufacturing facilities. Workers' compensation benefits do not prevent a wrongful death lawsuit against third parties such as property owners, general contractors, or equipment manufacturers, although the employer itself is protected by Workers' Compensation Law §11 and the comp carrier has a lien on the third-party recovery (§29). When the death was caused by mesothelioma or another asbestos disease, see our Long Island mesothelioma lawyer page.
Nursing home deaths from neglect and abuse are a growing area of wrongful death litigation on Long Island. When residents die from preventable falls, medication errors, malnutrition, dehydration, or sepsis caused by untreated infections, the facility may bear liability. Our firm investigates staffing ratios, Department of Health inspection reports, incident logs, and the facility's history of citations and deficiencies.
We also handle wrongful death cases involving premises liability — drowning deaths in unfenced pools, electrocution deaths from faulty wiring, and deaths in fires caused by code violations. Additionally, we pursue product liability deaths caused by defective vehicles, dangerous pharmaceutical drugs, and malfunctioning medical devices.
What to Expect
What Happens During a Wrongful Death Lawsuit on Long Island?
The wrongful death litigation process in New York begins before a lawsuit is filed. Because only the personal representative of the decedent's estate has standing to bring a wrongful death action, the first step is opening the estate in Surrogate's Court. For Long Island families, this means filing a petition in Nassau County Surrogate's Court in Mineola or Suffolk County Surrogate's Court in Riverhead.
If the decedent left a valid will naming an executor, that person petitions for letters testamentary. If the decedent died without a will — common in sudden accident deaths involving younger victims — a family member must petition for letters of administration. The court determines who qualifies as administrator based on statutory priority.
Our firm handles this probate process in coordination with the family, ensuring that no time is lost and that the personal representative is positioned to file the wrongful death action as soon as investigation is complete.
While the estate is being opened, our firm simultaneously launches a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances of the death. This includes obtaining and preserving all physical evidence, securing accident reports from police or regulatory agencies, interviewing witnesses, and retaining relevant experts.
We also send spoliation letters to defendants and third parties demanding that all evidence — including surveillance footage, electronic data, maintenance records, and personnel files — be preserved. In medical malpractice death cases, we obtain the decedent's complete medical records and engage board-certified medical experts for a thorough review before filing. Evidence preservation is critical because physical evidence degrades and surveillance footage is overwritten on short cycles.
Once the estate is open and investigation is sufficiently advanced, we file the wrongful death action — and in most cases, a companion survival action — in the appropriate court, typically New York Supreme Court in Nassau or Suffolk County. The case then enters the discovery phase, during which both sides exchange documents, take depositions, and retain expert witnesses.
Discovery in wrongful death cases can be extensive and contentious, particularly in medical malpractice and construction accident cases involving multiple defendants. After discovery closes, the case moves toward settlement negotiations or trial.
Insurance companies in wrongful death cases frequently attempt to settle early — often for far less than the case is worth — knowing that grieving families may be under financial pressure. Our firm resists premature settlement offers and negotiates from a position of strength, backed by thorough expert analysis and a willingness to try cases to verdict. When a fair settlement cannot be reached, we present the deceased's life, earning history, and family relationships to a jury.
Understanding Compensation
What Compensation Can a Family Recover in a Wrongful Death Case on Long Island?
Because New York limits wrongful death damages to pecuniary loss, the economic valuation is both the most important and the most technically complex element of the claim. Our firm retains forensic economists who calculate the present value of the decedent's future lost earnings — adjusted for projected raises, promotions, inflation, and reduced to present value using an appropriate discount rate.
Vocational experts may also be retained to establish the decedent's career trajectory, particularly when the deceased was young or pursuing additional education that would have increased future earning capacity. The decedent's age and health at the time of death are central to this analysis. A healthy 35-year-old with decades of earning potential represents a fundamentally different economic loss than a 70-year-old retiree.
Several factors consistently correlate with higher wrongful death awards in New York courts. Cases involving young victims with long earning horizons produce the largest economic loss calculations because there are more years of projected income. Deaths of parents with minor children generate significant additional damages for loss of parental guidance.
Sole breadwinner deaths create compelling economic narratives because the family's entire financial foundation has been destroyed. Cases involving egregious or reckless conduct — such as drunk driving, willful safety violations, or deliberate concealment of known hazards — can also support punitive damages, which EPTL §5-4.3(b) allows when they would have been recoverable had the decedent survived.
In large wrongful death cases, structured settlements play an important role in ensuring long-term financial security for the family. A structured settlement converts a lump-sum recovery into guaranteed periodic payments tailored to the family's needs — monthly income replacement, lump sums timed to children's college enrollment, and deferred payments for retirement years.
Our firm works with structured settlement consultants and financial planners to design arrangements that protect the family's financial future. This is particularly important when minor children are among the distributees. The court must approve any settlement of a pending wrongful death action (EPTL §5-4.6), and the share each distributee receives is set by the court in proportion to that person's pecuniary loss (EPTL §5-4.4). The goal is to ensure the family receives the full measure of compensation the law allows.
Key Distinctions
What Is the Difference Between a Wrongful Death and Survival Action in New York?
Wrongful death litigation occupies a fundamentally different legal landscape from personal injury claims. Families who have lost a loved one to negligence must understand these distinctions to protect their rights. The most significant difference is procedural: in a personal injury case, the injured person files the lawsuit in their own name. In a wrongful death case, the claim belongs to the decedent’s estate, not to any individual family member.
Under EPTL §5-4.1, only the duly appointed personal representative of the estate has legal standing to commence the action. Before a wrongful death lawsuit can be filed, someone must petition the appropriate Surrogate’s Court, obtain letters testamentary or letters of administration, and be formally authorized to act on behalf of the estate.
For Long Island families, this process takes place in Nassau County Surrogate’s Court in Mineola or Suffolk County Surrogate’s Court in Riverhead. The delay involved in opening the estate can feel agonizing for families who want immediate legal action against the responsible party.
The nature of recoverable damages represents another profound distinction. In a personal injury case, the injured person can recover for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and the full spectrum of non-economic damages. Wrongful death damages in New York, however, are limited exclusively to pecuniary loss — the financial value the deceased would have contributed to their surviving family members.
This includes lost future earnings, loss of parental guidance, medical expenses before death, and funeral costs, but it expressly excludes grief, sorrow, emotional anguish, and loss of companionship. This restriction is one of the harshest aspects of New York wrongful death law.
The survival action filed alongside the wrongful death claim — governed by EPTL §11-3.2 — does allow recovery for the decedent’s conscious pain and suffering before death. However, this claim belongs to the estate, not to the surviving family members individually.
The emotional challenges that families face during wrongful death litigation cannot be overstated. Unlike a personal injury plaintiff who participates in their own recovery, wrongful death families navigate the legal system while in the depths of grief. They must make important legal decisions — selecting a personal representative, choosing an attorney, deciding whether to accept a settlement — during a period when their emotional reserves are depleted.
Families often feel torn between the desire for swift resolution and the need to pursue full justice. Children who have lost a parent may not understand the legal proceedings taking place on their behalf. The surviving parent or guardian must balance litigation demands with the more pressing demands of helping their children cope with loss.
Our firm approaches every wrongful death case with an awareness of this emotional reality. We do not push families to make decisions before they are ready. We explain every step in clear and compassionate terms and shoulder the burden of litigation so families can focus on grieving and healing.
From an evidentiary standpoint, wrongful death cases present unique challenges that do not exist in personal injury litigation. The most obvious challenge is that the primary witness — the deceased person — cannot testify. In a personal injury case, the plaintiff describes the accident and connects emotionally with the jury through their own words. In a wrongful death case, that testimony is absent.
The attorney must reconstruct events through other means: accident reconstruction experts, eyewitness testimony, surveillance footage, police accident reports, OSHA investigation files, and forensic evidence including toxicology results and autopsy reports.
Building a wrongful death case without the decedent’s testimony requires more extensive investigation, more expert witnesses, and more meticulous preparation than a comparable personal injury case. The financial and human resources required to do it properly are substantial.
Key Evidentiary Challenge
The primary witness to the events — the deceased person — cannot testify. Building a wrongful death case requires extensive investigation, expert witnesses, and meticulous evidence preservation to reconstruct the events through accident reconstruction, surveillance footage, forensic analysis, and eyewitness testimony.
At the same time, we never lose sight of the urgency these cases require. The two-year statute of limitations is unforgiving. The 90-day Notice of Claim deadline for a town, county or village, which runs from the representative’s appointment, is even more so. Evidence not preserved immediately after the death may be lost forever.
We begin our investigation on the day we are retained — sending spoliation letters, securing physical evidence, interviewing witnesses, and laying the groundwork for the strongest possible case while the family focuses on what matters most.
Related practice areas: Catastrophic Injury • Medical Malpractice • Car Accidents • Truck Accidents • Personal Injury
Common Questions
Wrongful Death FAQs
Who can file a wrongful death lawsuit in New York?
What is the statute of limitations for wrongful death in New York?
What damages can I recover in a wrongful death case?
What is the difference between wrongful death and survival actions?
Can I sue for a nursing home death on Long Island?
How much is a wrongful death case worth?
Do I need letters of administration to file a wrongful death lawsuit?
How much does a wrongful death lawyer cost?
Can a family recover for grief or loss of companionship in New York?
Who receives the money from a wrongful death settlement in New York?
Free Settlement Calculator
Estimate what your personal injury case may be worth using real New York settlement data and proven calculation methods.
Calculate Your EstimateEducational tool only. Not legal advice.
Written By
Jason Tenenbaum, Esq.
Jason Tenenbaum is a personal injury attorney serving Long Island, Nassau & Suffolk Counties, and New York City. Admitted to practice in NY, NJ, FL, TX, GA, MI, and Federal courts, Jason is one of the few attorneys who writes his own appeals and tries his own cases. Since 2008, he has authored more than 2,600 articles on no-fault insurance law, personal injury, and employment law — a resource other attorneys rely on to stay current on New York appellate decisions.
Your Family Deserves Answers
Evidence Fades. Witnesses Move On.
Your Family Deserves Answers — and Justice.
The 2-year statute of limitations is already running. The responsible party's insurance company is already building their defense. Let us build your family's case before it's too late.
No fee unless we win. Available 24/7. Hablamos Español.