Torts · Survival Actions
Clear answer to: What Is Survival Actions in Torts? with key cases, examples, and exam tips for law students.
Survival actions in torts allow a decedent's estate to pursue claims for personal injuries suffered by the decedent before death. These actions enable recovery for damages that the victim could have claimed if they had survived.
Survival actions arise when an individual suffers a personal injury due to the wrongful act of another, subsequently dies from causes unrelated to the injury. The claim becomes part of the decedent's estate, allowing the executor or administrator to pursue damages that the decedent could have sought during their lifetime, including pain and suffering, medical expenses, and lost wages. The key distinction between survival actions and wrongful death actions is that survival actions compensate for the injuries suffered by the victim before death, while wrongful death actions compensate the beneficiaries for their losses stemming from the decedent's death itself.
In most jurisdictions, survival actions are governed by state statutes that dictate who may bring the action and what damages can be recovered. The permitted recoveries often include both economic damages, like past and future medical expenses, and non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering. However, statutes vary widely regarding caps on damages and the procedural requirements for filing these claims.
Key elements of a survival action involve establishing that the decedent was indeed injured due to the defendant’s actionable conduct, the injury proximately caused by that conduct, and that the decedent had the standing to bring forth the action had they survived. The procedural aspects hinge on how the estate administration is handled, ensuring that the executor properly brings forth the claim. Furthermore, any recovery is typically deposited into the estate and then distributed according to the decedent's will or state intestacy laws.
An important nuance in survival actions is the impact of the decedent’s personal conduct before death. If the decedent had partially contributed to their injuries (comparative or contributory negligence), this may potentially reduce the estate's recovery under applicable state laws, affecting the amount duly recoverable by the estate for the decedent's suffering prior to death.
For instance, if a pedestrian is struck by a driver while crossing the street and sustains significant injuries that lead to hospitalization, but the pedestrian later dies from unrelated causes, their estate could file a survival action against the driver for the pain and suffering experienced during the hospitalization period.
Survival actions often appear in exams related to tort law in the context of wrongful death and personal injury questions, requiring students to distinguish between the two and analyze damage recoveries.