When your loved one sustains a serious injury that leads to their death, it is natural to want to get justice for them. A wrongful death lawsuit lets surviving loved ones recover for their loss but does not collect damages on behalf of the deceased. A survival action allows the deceased’s estate to collect for injuries the deceased suffered before they died. These damages include financial damages like medical bills or lost wages. They include intangible damages like pain and suffering and loss of consortium. In some instances, they may also include punitive damages.
Survival actions and wrongful death actions are two different types of lawsuits. Different people have a right to bring them, and the damages and consequences are different. However, since they focus on the same actions, families and estates often combine the two causes of action with assistance from a seasoned wrongful death attorney. Talk to a Reno survival actions lawyer to learn more about whether you have a potential claim.
When someone else’s negligence results in injuries, the injured party can bring a personal injury lawsuit. When the injured person dies before they can either bring or complete a personal injury lawsuit, the claim survives their death.
Nevada Revised Statutes § 41.100 allows a decedent’s estate to bring a wrongful death action or take over a wrongful death action once the injured person dies. The personal injury suit survives regardless of whether the personal injury was the cause of death. However, family members and the estate can only bring the cases together if the injury was the cause of death. A survival actions attorney in Reno can explore survivors’ potential remedies.
While family members can bring wrongful death suits, they may not be able to bring a survival action. Because a survival action is on behalf of the deceased, the person bringing the suit must represent the deceased’s estate. When the decedent has a will at the time of their death, the will designates a representative – also known as an executor or administrator – who handles all estate matters and can bring a survival action.
Many injured people die without a will. Even when they have a will, sometimes a named representative cannot serve. In those instances, the Court can appoint an executor for the estate. The executor may or may not be a family member. Sometimes, the executor may cooperate with the family and join wrongful death and survival actions. In other cases, it may be inappropriate to join the cases. An attorney can advise representatives about the steps to take in a Reno survival action.
The estate can recover the same damages the deceased could have recovered in a personal injury lawsuit, including compensatory and punitive damages.
Compensatory damages repay the estate for money the deceased lost or for non-monetary damages the family experienced. Examples include lost wages, loss of consortium, and medical bills.
The estate may also recover damages for pain and suffering. However, establishing pain and suffering usually involves testimony about the pain. It can be more challenging to establish when the injured party is deceased and unable to testify. A Reno survival actions attorney can advise the estate whether pain and suffering will be recoverable in a particular action.
In some instances, punitive damages are available. Punitive damages punish the wrongdoer for behavior beyond typical negligence instead of repaying the plaintiff for their damages.
An estate representative has at least a year from the decedent’s death to bring a survival action. They may have even longer if the original statute of limitations for the deceased has more than a year left at the time of death. A year is shorter than it seems, especially when a representative is busy taking care of the rest of the estate.
Even if you are not sure whether you want to bring a survival action, as the representative of the estate, you should at least find out what it would involve. Contact a Reno survival actions lawyer to find out more.
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