Claimants and Claims in Reckless Imprudence Resulting to Homicide and Multiple Physical Injury Case

Good Day

I had to undergo a crash course about legal matters within 48 hours and this forum was very helpful that I thought that I might as well ask my questions here

A relative was involved in a vehicular accident which resulted to a death of one and multiple serious physical injuries.

1) The person who died was separated from his wife for almost 10 years. He was survived by his siblings and a minor child. We have already signed an affidavit of desistance from his siblings. We also have an affidavit of claimant with undertaking from the deceased siblings which states “…we (the siblings) are the legal beneficiaries/claimants of (the deceased) in absence of his wife...”

• Is the affidavit of claimant with undertaking from the siblings enough to protect us against any claims from the wife since they are separated?

• If this is not enough then would it be okay to keep the current affidavit of claimant with undertaking as it is but just have an acknowledgment form that has the line “For and in behalf of (name of wife) and in behalf of (name of minor child), under the name of the siblings/recipients of the benefits?

2) Regarding the multiple people who have serious and minor physical injuries…

• We have shouldered their medical expenses; however, some of them have unreasonable claims (e.g. compensate money lost during the accident, educational plan etc.). What should be the correct way with dealing with these people’s claims? Should we just let the insurance company talk to them?
o If we do leave it to the insurance company, are we assured that they have our best interest in terms of avoiding any civil or criminal cases filed against us?
What we would like to avoid any civil or criminal case against our relative; however, make sure that whatever settlement is agreed upon is reasonable.

Thanks in advance!

1) that won't work unless the wife executes an SPA authorizing you. without that, she can question the settlement agreement. the siblings are not heirs and have no authority

2) you will have to choose; case or settlement. in my experience, sometimes a case is required in order to bring the people to a proper settlement.

if this is due to reckless imprudence, those people hardly have any leverage except for your fear of facing a case. even if your relative is convicted, he will not go to jail, and there will be multiple instances where settlements can be reached.

Thanks for the advice! We have already settled the cases of other claimants for Physical Injury (with affidavit of desistance) except 3 but the most serious one was the person who was just released from the hospital after a month of hospitalization. We have paid around 100K for the person's bill but now we are being threatened with a case because we said that we have to check our finances before we can commit about shouldering the person's therapy. I think this is a reasonable response since finances are not really good since we have to pay a lot of people. I want to speak to the person's doctor's first to find out what we are looking at in terms of the person's rehabilitation before giving any commitment. The problem is that they have a relative who works for the office of the ombudsman who has repeatedly threatened my relative when she paid the hospital bill that they will file a case against my relative saying that she knows a lot of lawyers, judges etc. Now my relative is scared. We are simple people. We are not that knowledgeable when it comes to the law. I think that this person is using this fact to bulldozed us and I'm at a point that I would rather tell them to file a case not because we want to stop paying their medical bills but because of the mental and physical aggravation we are being put to. What do you think is the best thing to do?

if you can afford it, get a lawyer to deal with them. if a settlement is not possible, then wait for them to file a case. no amount of lawyers and judges will change that they will have to undergo the whole process.

on the other hand, therapy is not too expensive.

Thanks again for the advice