They will say it was an accident. And since damage awards are based on lost wages, the likelihood of his wife or children being able to sue is
based on his earnings, and their dependency on his earnings. If he is employed and makes a
lot of money, and is under 45 or 50 or so, chances are his wife or child can get a lawyer and sue, but if he does not have a job or does not have a wife or child or even if his field has seen a lo of layoffs and the probability of his being laid off soon is arguably high, his death will almost certainly just be forgotten.
I don't know the specifics except to say that only a tiny percentage of injury cases go o court, and they are usually the really serious ones.. The reason is tha the law presumes that everyone is innocent and the effect of that presumption is to make it very hard for people to get a lawyer even in cases of obvious culpability.
The deck is especially stacked against the poor.
Unemployed people's next of kin might have to prove he had a very high probability of reemployment soon, to claim lost wages.
Pain and suffering would be based on
how much and how long he was suffering before death.
If he died instantly, no suffering, so no money.
A lawyer will only take it if the client (next of kin?) pays in advance. And what would they sue for? Would anyone have standing to sue?
There is no inherent win in a lawsuit barring lost wages or lost support, in most places. In the US the laws vary from state to state. It may be different in other places like Europe.
Originally Posted by
xizangstan
So what was the crime? Even the mayor acknowledges that the guy was no threat to anyone. Shooting anyone balanced on a bicycle, with high voltage seems to me to be a reckless and wanton disregard of life and welfare. Again, what was the old guy's crime? Was there a reasonable suspicion or a probable cause? Of what?
It seems to me the death penalty is pretty harsh for riding a bike while hearing impaired. They say that driving a motor vehicle is a privilege and not a right. Is riding a bicycle a privilege or a right? Walking?
I smell a huge lawsuit. And if I were to find myself on the jury, I'm sure I would smack the snot out of the city and the cop.
(When I was a deputy in a Colorado county sheriff's office, we each had to read every word of the official Standard Operating Procedures, and initial the bottom corner of each page and sign the last page, acknowledging our personal liability if we didn't follow the published SOP.)