- The role of family members in an injury claim – Ask an Injury Lawyer

Hi everybody, my name is Warren WhiteKnight. I’m one of the partners here at Bergeron Clifford Injury Lawyers and this week on ‘Ask an Injury Lawyer’ we’ve received a question from one of our viewers the question basically is when someone is injured and their family members take care of them afterwards can those people be compensated for the care they provide, or put another way can they be compensated for their labor that they expend or for the change in their relationship. Further, could those people be a help to the lawsuit by keeping records and taking notes and journaling things like that.

I’ll start with the basic answer first which is yes, a person who is injured in an accident or by reason of negligence or something like that has six eligible family groups they can claim under what is called the family law act this is section 61 of the family law act which says that family members grandparents parents siblings spouse children and grandchildren so six groups of the injured individual can claim for their loss of care guidance and companionship or the value of services rendered they can also claim for the financial losses they’ve uh incurred personally loss of income change in career their personal psychological counseling things like that importantly a person does not need to be a family law act claimant which requires you to be named in a lawsuit so you don’t have to be a family law claim in order to be compensated for your services. The primary injured individual can make a promise to repay someone for the labor they’ve expended or the costs they’ve incurred and to pay those individuals back.

Family members can certainly be quite helpful in lawsuits through record keeping keeping pain journals diaries of appointments attended mileage to and from appointments general observations about activities that people have missed – you know we got an invitation from our friend we were supposed to go to a barbecue but my husband he was too tired from his injuries we had to give up on these social activities, or you know this is the year that we would have gone on that vacation in Hawaii and we just weren’t able to do it. Writing down those sorts of memories can be very helpful. Another thing is that we know that when an injured individual is supported by their family through a lawsuit emotionally and financially that the injured individual does better in their recovery and also it helps us tell their story better which helps us get more just and larger compensation for them at court. Thanks for the question it’s an excellent one and as always send your questions in for ‘Ask an Injury Lawyer’.