What Is the Difference Between Wrongful Death and Survival Action?
When one person’s careless, reckless, or wrongful action causes someone else’s death, they can be held liable for damages through a wrongful death or survival action claim. When a loved one dies a preventable death caused by someone else, an experienced wrongful death attorney in Atlanta can help you determine whether a wrongful death claim or a survival action is appropriate for your case.
Understanding Civil Justice Through Tort Cases After a Wrongful Death
The criminal justice system focuses on punishing the wrongdoer for any illegal action involved in the death, while the civil tort system focuses on compensating the victim or their surviving family. The civil court brings justice to an injury victim or their surviving family members through financial accountability, including through wrongful death claims and survival action cases. Often, compensation in tort claims comes from the at-fault party’s insurance, such as auto insurance after a car accident death or commercial liability insurance after a broken staircase accident in a hotel.
Civil claims proceed independently of the criminal justice system and do not depend on whether charges are brought or a conviction is obtained in the same case.
When Is a Wrongful Death Claim the Right Choice?
When a close family member’s death was preventable if only another party had taken reasonable care, Georgia law under 21 LC 41 2979 H. B. 620 – 1 allows a surviving spouse, parent, or child to file a wrongful death claim against the responsible party. If the decedent leaves no living spouse, parent, or child, then the personal representative of their estate, either named in their will or assigned by the court, may file a claim.
A wrongful death claim may recover compensation for the family’s economic and non-economic losses, such as the following:
- Funeral and burial costs
- Loss of a loved one’s income during funeral planning and family leave time
- Loss of the decedent’s income and benefits for the number of working years they had left to them had they not died
- Loss of household services, such as a parent’s care of the children or a spouse’s maintenance of the house or yard
- Compensation for the family’s emotional grief and anguish
- Compensation for a spouse’s lack of companionship and consortium, parents’ loss of love and support, or a child’s loss of a parent’s nurturing and guidance
Wrongful death compensation addresses the financial impact of the death on the family as well as the family’s grief and personal losses.
When Should A Family Pursue a Survival Action?
While a wrongful death claim compensates a decedent’s family for their losses, a survival action in Georgia works more like a personal injury claim, only it’s filed by the decedent’s estate on their behalf. A survival action sometimes begins as the injury victim’s personal injury claim, but becomes a survival action after the injury victim succumbs to the injury and passes away. The representative of their estate continues the legal claim against the at-fault party through a survival action. Common damages recovered by the decedent’s estate in survival actions include:
- Reimbursement for medical expenses incurred before the death
- Compensation for the decedent’s lost income
- Compensation for funeral and burial costs
- Compensation for the decedent’s pain, suffering, and fear of imminent death
In other cases, the family files a survival action rather than a wrongful death claim after a loved one’s death because the decedent suffered pain and trauma and incurred medical expenses before their death.
How Can an Atlanta Wrongful Death Attorney Help Me?
If you’ve lost a loved one due to someone else’s actions, contact a personal injury lawyer at Piasta Walker Hagenbush LLC for a free evaluation of your case. An experienced attorney will weigh your legal options based on the unique circumstances of your loved one’s death and advise you on whether a wrongful death claim or a survival action will best benefit your family and give your lost loved one a voice for justice.