Maine Wrongful Death Lawyer

When You’ve Lost a Loved One, Call the Attorneys Mainers Trust

Losing a family member because of someone else’s negligence is different from an ordinary loss. There are medical bills that arrived before the death and funeral bills that arrived after it. There are questions about what happened and why, and there is often silence from the insurance company or the hospital or trucking company responsible. Maine law gives families a way to hold that party accountable and recover compensation, but the process has strict deadlines and specific rules about who can file.

Jabar LaLiberty, LLC has represented families in wrongful death cases stemming from car and truck accidents and defective products for decades. If you lost a loved one because of someone else’s carelessness or misconduct, talk to a Maine wrongful death lawyer before you talk to an insurance adjuster.

What Is a Wrongful Death Claim in Maine?

A wrongful death claim is a civil lawsuit brought when a person’s death was caused by someone else’s negligence, recklessness, or intentional act. Maine’s wrongful death law allows the estate to pursue compensation for the beneficiaries of the deceased person.

This is separate from any criminal case. A criminal charge, if one is filed, addresses punishment for breaking the law. A wrongful death claim addresses financial compensation for the family left behind. The two cases can proceed on separate tracks, and a criminal conviction is not required for a wrongful death claim to succeed.

Common examples include a fatal car or truck crash caused by a distracted or drunk driver, a death caused by a defective vehicle that fails to protect occupants in a crash, and a death caused by a surgeon’s or hospital’s negligence. In each case, the legal question is the same: Did someone’s carelessness or misconduct cause this death, and can that be proven?

Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Maine?

Maine law does not allow just any family member to walk into court and file a wrongful death claim. The lawsuit must be brought by the personal representative or special administrator of the deceased person’s estate. Once the personal representative is appointed, they pursue the claim on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries, and any recovery is distributed according to Maine law.

Maine’s intestacy laws determine who qualifies as an heir entitled to a share of the recovery:

Surviving Spouse: Entitled to a share, and often the largest share, of any recovery.
Children: Both minor and adult children of the deceased typically qualify as heirs.
Parents: If the deceased had no spouse or children, surviving parents may be entitled to recover.
Other Next of Kin: Siblings or more distant relatives may qualify if no closer heirs survive.

Figuring out who the personal representative should be, and making sure the probate process moves fast enough to protect the family’s legal deadlines, is one of the first things a Maine wrongful death attorney sorts out for a grieving family.

Causes of Wrongful Death We Handle in Maine

Jabar LaLiberty has represented families across a wide range of wrongful death claims throughout Waterville, Portland, and the rest of Maine:

Car and Truck Accidents: Fatal crashes caused by distracted, drunk, drowsy, or reckless drivers.
Motorcycle Accidents: Fatal collisions where a driver failed to see or yield to a motorcyclist.
Defective Products: Deaths caused by a vehicle or product that failed to meet reasonable safety standards.
Medical Negligence: Deaths caused by surgical errors, misdiagnosis, medication mistakes, or delayed treatment.

Every one of these cases requires a thorough investigation, from crash reconstruction to product testing to nursing home staffing records, and a Maine wrongful death lawyer with experience across these case types knows what evidence to gather and which experts to bring in to prove what happened.

What Damages May Be Available After a Wrongful Death in Maine?

Maine law allows several categories of compensation in a wrongful death case, and understanding them matters because some are capped by statute and some are not:

Economic Damages: Medical bills, funeral and burial expenses, lost income, and lost financial support the deceased would have provided, with no dollar cap under Maine law.
Non-Economic Damages: Compensation for the loss of the deceased’s comfort, society, and companionship, capped at $1,000,000, a figure that adjusts annually for inflation.
Punitive Damages: Available in cases involving especially reckless or malicious conduct, capped at $500,000.
Conscious Pain and Suffering: Compensation if the deceased suffered before dying, not subject to the same statutory cap.

An experienced attorney reviews medical records, financial records, and the circumstances of the death to identify every category of compensation a family may be entitled to pursue.

Wrongful Death Claims Versus Survival Claims in Maine

A wrongful death claim and a survival claim compensate for different things, and many cases involve both at the same time. A wrongful death claim compensates the beneficiaries for their own losses, including lost financial support and the loss of the deceased’s companionship. A survival claim, by contrast, compensates the estate for what the deceased personally suffered between the injury and the death, including pain, medical expenses, and lost wages during that period.

Maine law allows both claims to be brought together in the same lawsuit when the facts support it. Sorting out which damages belong to which claim, and making sure nothing is left off the table, is part of what our attorneys handle from the start.

How Long Do You Have to File a Wrongful Death Claim in Maine?

Maine gives families three years from the date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. If the death resulted from a homicide, the personal representative has six years from the date they discovered a valid cause of action against the person responsible.

Three years can feel like a long time in the middle of grief, but building a strong wrongful death case takes months of investigation. Medical records need to be gathered and reviewed. Accident scenes need to be examined before evidence disappears. Expert witnesses need to be retained and prepared. Waiting too long to speak with a lawyer can mean losing access to evidence or witnesses that no longer remember the details clearly.

Missing the filing deadline means losing the right to recover compensation entirely, regardless of how strong the case might have been. Anyone considering a wrongful death claim should talk to a lawyer as early as possible, even while the probate process is still getting organized.

Why Families Trust Jabar LaLiberty, LLC With Wrongful Death Claims

Jabar LaLiberty has represented Maine families from its offices in Waterville and Portland since 1979. James M. LaLiberty, James S. LaLiberty, Jason M. Jabar, and George M. Jabar II are Maine natives who built our firm’s reputation on personal attention rather than volume, and families dealing with a wrongful death are never handed off to a case manager they’ve never met.

Our wrongful death case results reflect a willingness to take on complicated defendants rather than settle for the first offer:

$1.7 Million: Recovered in a New Hampshire motorcycle wrongful death case.
$1.5 Million: Recovered in a wrongful death and injury claim against a vehicle manufacturer for crashworthiness defects.
$550,000: Recovered in a wrongful death claim against a long-term care facility.
$500,000: Recovered in a wrongful death claim against a hospital.
$500,000: Recovered against a motorist for causing the death of a golf cart operator on the road.

A wrongful death case is not just a legal matter. It is a family’s attempt to hold someone accountable for a loss that should never have happened. Jabar LaLiberty handles the legal work, the deadlines, and the insurance company so families can focus on each other.

Talk to a Maine Wrongful Death Lawyer Today

If you lost a loved one because of someone else’s negligence, you do not have to face the legal process alone. Contact Jabar LaLiberty, LLC for a free consultation with a Maine attorney who can explain your options and help protect your family’s legal rights.