July 4th marks the country’s 250th anniversary. Rogers, Bentonville, Bella Vista, and Springdale each throw their own celebration, and crowds pack the parks and lawns from the Buffalo River to the Missouri line. Up in Harrison, the party has a name.
Fire in the Sky opens with the Cake Shop Children’s Parade looping the downtown Square at ten in the morning, and by five o’clock, families have staked out spots at the Harrison Soccer Complex for food trucks, live music, and a run of goofy contests, hot wings, ice cream, and a frozen t-shirt scramble. This year, the celebration hits a little harder as the city marks its 150th anniversary. After dark, the fireworks and often a drone show set the hills glowing.
Fireworks rarely kill anyone. However, a July 4th car accident can happen on the way home. If you lost your husband, wife, daughter, son, or another person you know due to a careless driver, Arkansas law allows you to file a fatal car accident claim against whoever is responsible. The Law Office of Jason M. Hatfield stands with grieving families across Northwest Arkansas.
Why Is the Fourth of July So Deadly on Arkansas Roads?
Think about what the Fourth crams into a single night. Tired drivers, packed two-lane roads, a fireworks show that lets out all at once, and more than a few people who have been drinking since lunch. The numbers back up the dread.
- Over the July 4th holiday periods from 2020 through 2024 crashes killed 2,719 people nationwide. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 38 percent of the drivers who died had alcohol in their system.
- The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has clocked July 4th as the single date with the highest average death toll on the calendar.
Routes like U.S. 62 and 65 twist through the hills in the dark, and one driver wandering over the center line gives you no time at all.
*Disclaimer: This blog is for information and educational purposes only. Reading this content does not establish an attorney-client relationship.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in Arkansas?
Arkansas is specific about who gets to bring this kind of case. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-62-102, a wrongful death claim may be brought on behalf of the deceased’s beneficiaries, typically through the personal representative of the estate, and may be maintained against the personal representatives of the wrongdoer.
If nobody has been named to that role yet, the heirs at law can move forward instead. Under the Arkansas wrongful death law, the people who can recover include:
- A surviving spouse
- A child or children
- An individual’s parents
- An individual’s brothers and sisters
- Anyone who raised the deceased as their own (stood in loco parentis to the deceased), and
- Anyone whom the deceased raised as their own (to whom the deceased stood in loco parentis).
You have three years from the date of death. However, this limitation period does not apply when the responsible party has been convicted of capital murder, first-degree murder, or second-degree murder. Once that runs out, even a strong case is finished. It’s best to start collecting evidence and working with an experienced Fayetteville car accident attorney as soon as possible.
What Can Your Family Recover After a Fatal Crash?
Anyone who has tragically lost a loved one to a preventable situation can probably tell you that no amount of money undoes a loss like this. However, a wrongful death claim can at least address part of the consequences. Arkansas law allows you to recover certain types of compensation for the death of your loved one.
- For instance, the law allows you to recover the income your loved one would have earned over the coming years, along with the household support they provided day to day. Additionally, the statute covers funeral and burial expenses, medical bills, and the loss of companionship and guidance. Most importantly, Arkansas law also covers grief.
- Ark. Code Ann. § 16-62-102 recognizes mental anguish, including grief normally associated with the loss of a loved one, such as a spouse, parent, or child, as a compensable harm in wrongful death actions.
When someone gets behind the wheel drunk or drives with reckless disregard for everyone else on the road, your family can also pursue punitive damages, an added sum the law allows to penalize that decision and discourage anyone tempted to repeat it. Sorting out which of these applies takes a careful look at the facts, and our Fayetteville car accident lawyer is here to help you navigate this process.
When a Celebration Turns to Tragedy
Impaired drivers are one of the most significant culprits of holiday weekend car crashes, but they are not the only cause of tragedies. Many accidents stem from people climbing into boats at Bull Shoals and Table Rock after drinking all afternoon.
Distracted drivers can crane their necks to the sky, look at their phone, or be talking to someone in the car and miss pyaing attention to the car in front of them. When this happens, a driver can miss the brake lights ahead, and rear end the car. Any car wreck can upend a family’s life. If this happens to you, start documenting what you can.
- Pull together documents, such as the police crash report, photos from the scene, and the names of anyone who watched it unfold.
- Call a local Fayetteville car accident lawyer before speaking with any insurance companies. The earlier you act, the better you can prepare your personal injury claim with an experienced Fayetteville car accident attorney at the Law Office of Jason M. Hatfield.
If you or someone you know was involved in a car wreck over the long weekend or recently on a weekday, contact our personal injury firm at (479) 361-3575. We bring years of experience and have helped individuals with personal injury claims arising from car and truck accidents, as well as wrongful death claims. Depending on the circumstances and factors of each case, we work hard to tailor our strategy to best fit your needs.
Contact Our Fayetteville Wrongful Death Attorneys at The Law Office of Jason M. Hatfield Today
You should not have to fight an insurance company while you are planning a funeral. That is what we are here for. The Law Office of Jason M. Hatfield provides legal assistance throughout Northwest Arkansas, including Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Springdale, Rogers, and Siloam Springs.
Our firm has spent more than 25 years standing up for injured and grieving people across Arkansas, and every wrongful death case runs on contingency, which means you pay nothing unless the firm recovers for you. Take care of your family. Let an attorney shoulder the legal fight so you can focus on healing.
Contact the Law Office of Jason M. Hatfield at (479) 361-3575 whenever you are ready, and the first conversation is free and confidential.
Attorney Jason M. Hatfield is responsible for the content of this communication.
