Alabama Wrongful Death Lawyer

If someone's negligence took a person you love in Alabama, your family can bring a wrongful death claim against those responsible.

Alabama is the only state that limits that claim to punitive damages, so the jury weighs how wrong the conduct was.

Ordinary negligence is generally enough to bring the claim, and no statute caps the verdict against a private defendant.

The award goes to the family under the statute of distributions, out of reach of your loved one's creditors.

The claim generally has to be filed within two years of the death, and some government claims run shorter.

Don Worley, admitted in Alabama, has more than 20 years of personal injury experience, including death cases.

When your family is ready, call (888) 713-6653 for a free, confidential review, with no fee and no costs unless we recover.

In most states, a wrongful death award adds up what the family lost: income, household help, companionship. Alabama works differently. The Alabama Supreme Court has said "Alabama is the only state" where recovery has been restricted to punitive damages, a rule resting on the preservation of human life.^[1] The jury's question is how culpable the defendant was.

That rule has real consequences for your family. A retired grandparent's life is not priced lower because the paychecks had stopped, and neither is a child's or a stay-at-home parent's. The other side of the rule is harder to hear, because the award is not built from lost support, funeral bills, or grief, even though those are the losses you are living with.

Punitive damages usually require clear and convincing proof of wantonness or malice. Alabama's statute carves out wrongful death, so a careless driver or a careless hospital can generally answer for a death on ordinary negligence. A passenger riding free faces a higher bar against the host driver or owner, because Alabama's guest statute, Ala. Code § 32-1-2, requires willful or wanton misconduct, though the passenger's own uninsured motorist coverage may still respond.^[2] The punitive damages caps in Ala. Code § 6-11-21 "shall not apply to actions for wrongful death."^[3] A $1 million cap on malpractice death verdicts is still printed in the Code, but the Court struck it in Smith v. Schulte, so do not let anyone quote it to you as the limit.

The fault rule still applies. A personal representative can bring the claim only if your loved one could have sued had they lived, so the defense can argue that their own negligence helped cause the death. It is no defense to wantonness, which is why a drunk driver's conduct or a company's reckless decision can matter so much. Our page on how Alabama's fault rule gets answered explains how that argument gets answered, and we know how much it hurts to hear an insurer blame someone who can no longer answer.

For an adult's death, only a personal representative can bring the claim, whether that person is an executor named in a will or an administrator appointed by the probate court.^[4] A spouse or grown child cannot file in their own name unless they hold that appointment. It is usually a short step, and we can guide your family through it. A parent's right after a minor child's death is covered below.

Since 2011, the case can be filed only in a county where your loved one could have brought a lawsuit under the general venue rules. A case against an out-of-state company can also be moved to federal court. These decisions come before the complaint is written, and we make them with your family's interest in mind.

Nothing prepares a family for this, and nothing we write here can make it easier. Alabama gives a parent the right to bring the claim when a minor child dies, and when parents live apart or a custody order is in place, that right can belong to the parent with custody. If both parents have died, or if they do not sue within six months of the death, the child's personal representative can do so. One action bars the other, so the family should decide together who will bring it.^[6]

A jury in a child's death case is asked the same question as any other: how wrong was what the defendant did? The absence of earnings does not lessen the claim.

Alabama recorded 967 traffic deaths in 2024, and 58 percent happened on rural roads.^[7] Crashes are the most common source of these claims, and they are not the only one.

• Car and truck crashes. A driver, an employer, and a carrier can each answer for a fatal crash. See Alabama truck crash claims.
• Medical errors. A death caused by malpractice follows wrongful death's two-year deadline, with special rules from the Alabama Medical Liability Act. See Alabama malpractice claims.
• Nursing home neglect. A death from bedsores, falls, or medication errors can support a claim against the facility. See nursing home neglect in Alabama.
• Workplace deaths. A company outside the employer may answer for the death, and compensation death benefits can run alongside the claim. See who else can be sued after a work injury.
• Defective products and unsafe property. See product liability in Alabama and premises claims.

A public defendant changes the claim. Alabama bars punitive damages against cities and counties in general, but the statute that does so says it does not reach wrongful death actions. The Alabama Supreme Court upheld a wrongful death judgment against the City of Birmingham and then limited the City's share to $100,000 plus interest.^[8] So the claim exists, and the limit is low.

The State itself cannot be sued, and a death claim goes to the Board of Adjustment within two years. A city claim needs a sworn statement in the clerk's hands, or a lawsuit, within six months, and a county claim goes to the commission within 12 months. Because these limits are so much lower than the harm, we look for a private company or driver who shares responsibility. Our page on injury claims against Alabama's cities, counties, and the State sets out each route.

Alabama has no formula, and nobody can give your family a reliable number at the start. The jury decides what the conduct deserves, and a court can review an award afterward. These are the things that tend to move it.

• How dangerous and how wrong the conduct was. A driver's moment of inattention and a company's decision to keep an unsafe truck on the road are different things to a jury.
• What the defendant knew. Prior complaints, ignored warnings, and falsified records can change the case.
• Who can pay. An individual with a minimum policy and a corporate defendant are different sources of recovery, and more than one party can answer for a death.
• Whether the defense can argue contributory negligence. Proving wantonness, or a clean record of your loved one's care, keeps that argument from ending the claim.

If your loved one lived for a time after the injury, ask about the filed-claim rule. A lawsuit filed before the death can also recover medical bills, lost wages, and pain before death for the estate, and without one those items are lost. Our page on what happens to an injury claim when the injured person dies explains why that timing matters.

The claim generally has to be filed within two years of the death under Ala. Code § 6-5-410(d), and that also governs a death from medical malpractice. In every case there is one condition: your loved one must still have been able to sue at the time of death, so a claim that had already run out can close the door.^[9]

Government claims can run far shorter, as the section above explains. If the person who caused the death has also died, a claim against that person's estate generally has to be presented within six months of letters being issued, or five months from the first published notice if that is later, or suit filed in that time, under Ala. Code § 43-2-350.

You do not need to decide anything today. Even so, some evidence fades fast, and a conversation now costs your family nothing.