Brooklyn Wrongful Death Lawyer

Wrongful death claims in Brooklyn can arise from traffic crashes involving drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, construction and building work, medical and nursing-home care, unsafe property and defective products. What matters for the claim is who was legally responsible and whether that includes a public body, such as the City or the MTA, because that changes the first deadline. The records of the event, not rankings of streets or causes, decide the claim.

Generally two years after the death, or at least one year after a criminal action against the same defendant for the same event ends (EPTL 5-4.1). If the City may be legally responsible: notice of claim within 90 days after the representative is appointed; suit within two years. The State: within 90 days after appointment, file and serve the claim or serve a notice of intention on the Attorney General; the claim must be filed and served within two years after the death. Transit and survival claims differ.

Only the personal representative. For someone who lived in Brooklyn, letters usually come from the Kings County Surrogate's Court at 2 Johnson Street: letters testamentary for an executor named in a will, or letters of administration without one. The court can also issue limited letters for bringing the lawsuit (SCPA 702). The claim is for the distributees, such as a spouse, children or parents; they do not sue separately.

Emergency crews choose the hospital. For the claim, what matters is getting the complete records from every place the person was treated: the ambulance report, the emergency department, surgery and intensive care notes, and any transfer hospital. These records show what happened before death, which matters for the survival claim, and support the medical expenses claimed. The medical examiner's report may also be needed.

New York law is the same in Brooklyn as elsewhere: fair and just compensation for the pecuniary injuries the death caused the distributees, such as lost support, services and care, plus reasonable medical and funeral expenses paid by or owed by the distributees and interest from the date of death (EPTL 5-4.3). Grief and loss of companionship are generally not compensable. The survival claim can add the person's own pain and losses before death. Value depends on the proof of each distributee's loss.

Against a private or municipal defendant, a Brooklyn lawsuit is often filed in the Supreme Court, Civil Term, at 360 Adams Street when Kings County is a proper venue: under CPLR 503, generally where a party lived or a substantial part of the events happened, and a representative appointed in Kings County counts as a resident there. Claims against the State go to the Court of Claims. The court or the Kings County Surrogate's Court divides any recovery by each distributee's pecuniary loss after a hearing (EPTL 5-4.4).

Yes. In a wrongful death action, the person's share of fault does not bar recovery; it reduces the damages in proportion (CPLR 1411(a)). A 2026 rule bars recovery in some motor-vehicle personal-injury actions when the claimant's fault is greater than the defendants'; it is written for personal-injury actions, so its effect on a survival claim from a crash should be checked. Fault is decided on the evidence, which is why video and records matter early.

Get the death certificate and ask for the police report and hospital and medical examiner records. Ask stores, buildings and anyone with cameras to keep video. Keep funeral and medical bills and the person's pay and tax records. Decide who will petition the Kings County Surrogate's Court for letters, because City notice periods start at appointment. Do not sign a release or give a recorded statement to another party's insurer first.

Crashes between vehicles, people struck while walking or cycling, and crashes involving trucks, buses and delivery vehicles. If the condition of a State highway or City street may have contributed, the State or the City could also be responsible, but only if its legal responsibility can be shown, and its own notice rules then apply. The records for the place where it happened, not lists of dangerous streets, are what matter.

In an injury case the injured person sues for their own losses; most negligence claims against private parties must be started within three years, while claims against public bodies, medical malpractice and some other claims have shorter or different deadlines. In a death case the court-appointed representative sues for the family's pecuniary losses, generally within two years of the death, and a court divides any recovery among the distributees. The person's own pre-death losses continue as a survival claim, with its recovery going to the estate.