Survival actions are lawsuits that are related to wrongful death cases but seek different kinds of monetary damages after someone dies before their time due to the wrongful act of someone else. A survival action is not the same as a wrongful death case. It is important to understand the distinctions between the two types of lawsuits.
A Chicago personal injury attorney can file a survival action or wrongful death case or both, depending on what types of remedies you seek. Let’s take a look at survival actions in Chicago.
What is a Survival Action?
The Illinois Survival Act contains the rules for these lawsuits and lists the remedies available. The survival actions in our state preserve the right to take action for the harm suffered by the deceased person. Let’s say that someone suffered severe injuries in a car accident. After weeks in the hospital, the injured person died. During that time, the decedent experienced excruciating pain, worried about the future and their family, and endured intense sadness about the unexpected turn their life took.
Without a statute like the Survival Act, the right to hold the at-fault party accountable for all of that suffering would die when the injured person passed on. The surviving close family members could file a wrongful death lawsuit, but the wrongful death case could not include the non-financial harm their deceased loved one experienced.
A survival action, on the other hand, allows the surviving relatives to hold the negligent party responsible. First, the family needs to open an estate to act on behalf of their deceased loved one.
Differences Between Wrongful Death Claims and Survival Actions
The legal beneficiaries of a wrongful death case are usually close family members. These beneficiaries can recover money damages for their losses, which can include:
- Loss of the financial support and services of the decedent
- Loss of the affection and companionship of the deceased person
- Loss of the guidance and education of the deceased loved one
- The grief and emotional suffering of the survivors
Also, the decedent’s estate can recover its financial losses, like the final medical bills and a reasonable amount for the funeral and burial expenses.
The executor of the deceased person’s estate can file a survival action to pursue money damages that the decedent could have gone after if he had survived his injuries. For example, a survival action can seek to recover the medical expenses, lost wages, and other typical personal injury-type losses beginning with the moment of the injury and continuing until the moment of death. Also, the estate can get an award for the funeral and burial expenses.
It is possible to file two lawsuits, a survival action and a wrongful death case, for the same fatal injury. Filing both claims allows the estate and family to pursue a combination of forms of compensation that would not be possible by either type of lawsuit on its own.
Contact Our Wrongful Death Attorney in Chicago
If your close relative died because of someone else’s wrongful conduct, you want to talk to a Chicago personal injury attorney at Hale & Monico as soon as possible. The deadline for filing these lawsuits is short. Contact our office today for legal assistance, we offer a free consultation.