Broward County Wrongful Death Lawyer

A death caused by someone else’s carelessness leaves a family dealing with a funeral, a missing income, and an insurance adjuster, sometimes all in the same week. Spencer Morgan Law represents families in Fort Lauderdale and across Broward County, and handles injury and wrongful death claims throughout the Greater Miami area and the State of Florida. When a loved one dies in a crash, a fall, a workplace accident, a boating incident, or at the hands of a negligent medical provider, a Broward County wrongful death lawyer can help the family pursue a civil claim for what the loss has cost them.

Florida’s Wrongful Death Act does not work like an ordinary injury claim. The case is brought by the personal representative of the estate, but the money belongs to the people who depended on the person who died, and the law decides who counts and what each can recover. Deadlines depend on how the death happened, and a claim against a county, a city, or a hospital follows rules a private-defendant case does not. Decisions made in the first weeks can shape the whole claim.

Why Choose Spencer Morgan Law for a Wrongful Death Claim

The way clients work with this firm day to day is the part families mention most. They describe being kept informed, getting calls and emails returned, and having someone explain each step instead of leaving them to guess. Consultations are confidential, and Spanish-language services are available for families who are more comfortable in Spanish.

Wrongful death claims are won on the same proof as serious injury claims, and the firm’s record in those cases is relevant. It has recovered $1,000,000 in a semi-truck crash case, $1,000,000 in an auto accident settlement, $850,000 in a slip and fall matter, and $800,000 in a maritime accident case. The firm also lists recoveries involving rehabilitation centers, rideshare companies, construction sites, and claims against a county. Those are the kinds of defendants and insurers that appear when a death results from a truck wreck, a hazardous property, a vessel, or a facility that failed in its duty of care. Results depend on the facts of each case, and past outcomes do not guarantee future ones.

The firm’s work does not stop at the claim itself. It helps clients get vehicles repaired or total losses reimbursed, resolve medical bills, and obtain needed medical care, which matters when a family is also dealing with a surviving relative who was hurt in the same incident. Clients describe a team that treats them like family during the worst stretch of their lives.

Situations That Lead to Wrongful Death Claims in Broward County

• Fatal Car, Truck, and Motorcycle Crashes: Heavy traffic on I-95, I-595, the Florida Turnpike, and US-1 through Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Pompano Beach produces high-speed collisions, and commercial trucks add mass and complicated insurance layers. These cases often involve several policies and a fight over who was at fault.
• Rideshare and Hit-and-Run Deaths: A passenger or pedestrian killed in an Uber or Lyft trip, or by a driver who fled, raises questions about which coverage applies, including the driver’s, the company’s, and the family’s own uninsured motorist protection.
• Medical Negligence: Misdiagnosis, surgical errors, medication mistakes, and failures in hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation centers can be fatal. These claims follow a pre-suit process under chapter 766 and special limits on certain damages for adult decedents.
• Boating and Maritime Accidents: Broward’s waterways, the Intracoastal, and the ocean off Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood carry heavy recreational and commercial traffic. Deaths on vessels can involve state negligence law, federal maritime rules, or both, depending on the circumstances.
• Premises and Falls: Fatal falls from roofs, stairways, balconies, and construction areas, or from hazards a property owner failed to fix or warn about, can support a death claim against the owner or operator.
• Negligent Security: When a violent crime occurs at an apartment complex, hotel, bar, or store with known security problems, the owner may share fault. Florida limits these claims for certain multifamily properties that keep up required security measures, and it reduces the owner’s share by the criminal’s fault.
• Workplace Deaths: A death on a job site, whether in construction, marine work, warehousing, or event setup, usually triggers workers’ compensation death benefits, and a separate claim may exist against a third party such as a contractor, equipment maker, or property owner.
• Government-Involved Deaths: Crashes involving public vehicles, dangerous public roads, or county and city property bring sovereign immunity rules, written-notice requirements, and recovery limits that private claims do not have.

What Broward Families Should Do in the Weeks After a Death

The first priority is preserving what can disappear. Ask the investigating agency, whether a local police department or the Broward Sheriff’s Office, for the crash or incident report number and the name of the officer. Photograph the scene if you can do so safely, and write down names of witnesses before memories fade. Keep every medical record, bill, funeral invoice, pay stub, and tax return connected to the person who died. If a vehicle was involved, do not let it be repaired, sold, or scrapped until someone has looked at what its data and damage show. Trucks, boats, and facilities often hold video and electronic records that are overwritten on a schedule, and a preservation letter sent early can prevent that.

Be careful with insurers. An adjuster for the other side may call within days, sound sympathetic, and ask for a recorded statement or a signed medical release. Those statements are used to assign blame to the person who died. Since Florida’s 2023 reform, anyone found more than 50 percent at fault for their own harm generally recovers nothing in an ordinary negligence case, so even a casual comment about speed, lighting, or what the person was doing can matter. That bar does not apply to wrongful death claims arising from medical negligence under chapter 766, but it should not be tested through an offhand phone call. Direct insurers to your lawyer instead.

Timing is the other major concern. A wrongful death action must generally be filed within two years of the date of death. Some situations carry no deadline at all, such as a death caused by murder or manslaughter, where the claim is against the individual responsible. A claim against a government body requires a written claim to be presented within two years in a death case, and the agency generally has 180 days to respond before suit can follow. For medical malpractice, the pre-suit notice must be served within the statutory limits, and a suit cannot be filed until a 90-day investigation period has run, during which the limitations period is paused. Missing any of these can end a claim no matter how strong the facts are.

In Broward, civil wrongful death suits are filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which covers the county and sits in Fort Lauderdale, with civil divisions that also operate from regional courthouses in Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, and Plantation. Appeals go to the Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach. The estate side of the case, including the appointment of a personal representative, is handled through the probate division, and that appointment usually has to happen before the lawsuit can be filed.

Who Can Recover and What Florida Allows

Florida divides wrongful death damages into two groups. Survivor damages go to family members who qualify under the statute, and estate damages cover losses the estate itself suffered. A surviving spouse can recover for loss of the decedent’s companionship and protection and for mental pain and suffering. Parents of a deceased minor child can recover for mental pain and suffering. Children, and in some circumstances other relatives who depended on the person for support, may also be entitled to recover, depending on their age and relationship. The complaint must identify every potential beneficiary and state how each is related to the decedent, so a family with blended relationships, estranged children, or an unmarried partner needs to sort this out early.

Medical negligence deaths carry an important restriction. When the death was caused by medical malpractice, adult children (25 or older) cannot recover the noneconomic damages otherwise available to children, and parents of an adult decedent cannot recover the noneconomic damages otherwise available to parents. Florida’s former caps on noneconomic damages in malpractice cases were struck down by the courts, so there is no enforceable cap on those damages in litigation, though the statutory limits on who may claim them still apply.

Responsibility is also divided by fault. Florida does not impose joint and several liability, so judgment is entered against each liable party only for its own percentage. That is why identifying every contributor matters, whether it is a truck driver and the motor carrier, a property owner and a security contractor, or a hospital and a physician group. A defendant left out of the case cannot be made to pay a share that a jury assigns to it later.

Medical bills from the final illness or injury are part of the proof, and Florida now controls how some of that evidence comes in. If a provider treated under a letter of protection, meaning a promise to be paid from a settlement or judgment, the claimant must disclose the arrangement and any referral behind it before claiming those expenses. Evidence of what health insurance actually paid can also be admitted. Records and billing should be gathered with those rules in mind, not after the fact.

If the death involved a car crash, Personal Injury Protection can pay a $5,000 death benefit regardless of fault, in addition to the medical and disability benefits available to anyone hurt in the same collision. That benefit is separate from the wrongful death claim and does not replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions About Wrongful Death Claims in Broward County

Who is allowed to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Florida?

The lawsuit is filed by the personal representative of the decedent’s estate, usually the person named in the will or appointed by the probate court. That person sues on behalf of the survivors and the estate. Family members cannot each file their own separate wrongful death suit.

How long do we have to file?

Generally two years from the date of death. Exceptions exist: there is no deadline for deaths caused by murder or manslaughter when the defendant is an individual, and claims against government entities and medical providers run on different clocks with required notices. Because the rules depend on how the death occurred, the safe approach is to speak with a lawyer well before the two-year mark.

What compensation can a family recover?

Survivors may recover for lost support and services, loss of companionship and protection, and mental pain and suffering where the statute allows it. The estate can recover funeral and medical expenses it paid and certain lost earnings and benefits. Which relatives can claim which items depends on their relationship to the decedent and, in malpractice cases, on the decedent’s age.

Do we have to prove the person who died was not at fault?

Fault matters. In most negligence cases, if the person who died is found more than 50 percent responsible for their own harm, the claim is barred. At 50 percent or less, recovery is reduced by their share. Medical negligence claims under chapter 766 are exempt from that bar. Defense insurers often try to shift blame onto the person who can no longer speak for themselves, which is why evidence from the scene and from witnesses matters so much.

Is a criminal case required, and does it affect our civil claim?

No. A civil wrongful death claim is separate from any prosecution, and it can go forward whether or not criminal charges are filed, dropped, or result in acquittal. The standards of proof differ. A criminal case can sometimes produce useful evidence, but the civil claim should not wait on it, and deadlines keep running in the meantime.

How much does it cost to hire the firm?

You do not pay unless the firm recovers money for your family. Consultations are confidential, and questions about fees and costs can be answered before you decide anything.

What if the death happened in a hospital or nursing facility?

These claims require a pre-suit process: notice of intent must be served on prospective defendants within the statutory time limits, a 90-day investigation period follows during which suit cannot be filed, and the defendant or its insurer must respond by rejecting the claim, offering to settle, or offering arbitration on damages only. Expert review of the records is central, and the limits on noneconomic damages for adult decedents’ survivors apply.

Can we sue if a government vehicle or a county road was involved?

Often yes, but the rules are stricter. A written claim must be presented within the statutory period, which is two years in a wrongful death case, and the agency generally has 180 days to respond. Recovery against a government body is capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, and punitive damages and prejudgment interest are not available. Collecting more than the cap requires a claim bill passed by the Legislature.

What if our relative was killed by a drunk driver or at a bar?

The driver is the primary defendant. A bar or restaurant that serves alcohol is generally not liable for a patron’s later drinking and driving, with narrow exceptions for knowingly serving someone underage or someone habitually addicted to alcohol. Florida’s dram shop rule applies to licensed sellers, not to social hosts at private parties.

Will it matter if the person who died was an adult child, a retiree, or had no income?

Yes, though it does not end the claim. Survivors’ losses are measured by their own relationship with the decedent, such as lost companionship and, where applicable, lost support and services, so a retiree or a stay-at-home parent can have significant value to the family. Who may recover noneconomic damages depends on their relationship and, in malpractice cases, the decedent’s age.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer if the other driver had minimal insurance?

Often it is. Policy limits are only one source of recovery. Your family’s uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, additional defendants such as an employer or vehicle owner, and claims against a business or property owner can add to the total. A lawyer can identify every policy and responsible party before the family accepts a limited offer.

Serving Wrongful Death Families Across Broward County

The firm’s wrongful death work begins in Fort Lauderdale and extends through the rest of Broward County, from Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, and Dania Beach in the south, through Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Davie, and Cooper City in the southwest, to Plantation, Sunrise, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, and Tamarac in the center of the county. Families in Coral Springs, Parkland, Margate, Coconut Creek, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, and Lighthouse Point are also represented, along with residents of Weston and Southwest Ranches.

Because the highways, waterways, and employers that generate these cases do not stop at county lines, the firm also represents families in neighboring Miami-Dade County, throughout the Greater Miami area, and across the State of Florida. Wherever the death occurred, the work is the same: finding out exactly what happened, identifying every responsible party and insurance policy, and building the claim within the deadlines that apply.

Speak With a Broward County Wrongful Death Attorney

A wrongful death claim cannot undo the loss, but it can hold the responsible party accountable and give a family some financial footing while they rebuild. If you are considering a claim, a Broward County wrongful death attorney at Spencer Morgan Law can listen to what happened, explain which deadlines and rules apply to your situation, and tell you candidly what the claim may involve. The consultation is confidential, you pay nothing unless the firm recovers, and Spanish-language services are available. Call today to talk through your family’s situation.