How Does Survival Actions in Torts?

Survival actions in torts allow a deceased person's estate to pursue claims for injuries sustained prior to their death. This action acknowledges the right to seek damages for pain and suffering, lost wages, and other harms incurred before death.

Survival actions are a legal mechanism that enables the estate of a deceased person to continue pursuing tort claims that the decedent could have pursued had they lived. The key principle of survival actions is rooted in the notion that the injury and its consequences do not vanish upon the claimant's death. Instead, the claims survive to benefit the estate and provide compensation for the harm suffered by the deceased due to someone else's wrongful acts.

In most jurisdictions, the type of damages that can be recovered in a survival action includes compensation for the pain and suffering endured by the decedent, medical expenses incurred prior to death, and lost wages up to the time of death. It's important to distinguish survival actions from wrongful death actions; while the former deals with the decedent's own claim for damages, the latter addresses losses suffered by the survivors due to the decedent's death.

Key to understanding survival actions is the statute that governs such claims, which can vary from state to state. Many jurisdictions have statutes that explicitly outline the types of damages recoverable and the parties eligible to bring forth these actions. Often, personal representatives or executors of the estate are the parties entitled to initiate an action on behalf of the deceased.

Coverage of survival actions can also be found in the Restatement (Second) of Torts, which provides guidance on various torts and the implications of survival claims. Law students should familiarize themselves with both statutory law and case law in their jurisdictions to fully comprehend how these actions are treated under local tort law.

• 1Dunham v. Vaughan (1962) - The court established that a survival action could proceed despite the death of the claimant, emphasizing the continuity of the claim.
• 2Coffey v. State (1999) - This case highlighted the distinction between survival actions and wrongful death claims, reinforcing the types of damages recoverable.
• 3Hoffman v. Board of Education (1976) - The court ruled on medical expenses incurred prior to the decedent's death as recoverable in a survival action.
• 4Bowers v. Hodge (2012) - This case clarified that emotional distress damages could be pursued in a survival action as long as they occurred before death.

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