What Happens If Someone With Injury Claim Dies Before Claimant’s Case Is Resolved?

This speculation introduces the subject of survival actions. Those are lawsuits that can proceed after the plaintiff’s death.

What are the noteworthy features of a survival action?

It provides the legal system with a process that could be used, if someone that had made a personal injury claim were to die for a reason that was unrelated to the reported injury. The plaintiff’s death would need to precede a resolution of the submitted claim. A representative of the plaintiff’s estate could initiate the lawsuit/survival action.

The number of damages awarded depends on the degree of harm suffered by the plaintiff before his or her death. That harm might have entailed the absence of a way to keep performing the on-job tasks, those that had been required of the plaintiff before he or she died.

What are some examples of a situation that could trigger a survival action?

Joe, a confirmed smoker, and a man that ran his business from his home began a leisurely walk to the store. Due to his annoying leg pain, he did not see the dog coming down the street. Suddenly, that same canine attacked and bit him. He had to visit a hospital, and then talk to a personal injury lawyer in Barrie. Eventually, he discovered the identity of the dog’s owner and filed a personal injury claim.

Resolution of the claim took time, due to the fact that Joe was self-employed. Before the case got resolved, Joe had died of a heart attack. A similar story could be written about someone with high blood pressure. He or she might experience shortness of breath, during the walk.

Suppose that the harmful act that had triggered a personal injury claim were to kill the victim, so that the plaintiff died. What action could be taken then?

In that case, certain members of the deceased’s family would have the right to file a wrongful death claim. That would be close family members, such as a parent, grandparent, son, daughter, sister, brother or spouse.

Certain, more distant family members could not file such a lawsuit. That stipulation would keep a previous spouse, a stepson or stepdaughter, an aunt, an uncle, a nephew, a niece or a cousin from using a wrongful death claim to sue for damages.The family members that managed to win such a wrongful death lawsuit could collect certain damages:

• Total cost for all the medical bills, covering all procedures and treatments that were used on the injured victim before his or her passing.
• Cost of funeral expenses
• Cost of grief counseling services
• Loss of a source of income
• Loss of support
• Loss of consortium: that entails absence of love, affection, companionship, introduction to society, and, possibly, sexual relations