Your Trusted Personal Injury Lawyers in Waterford, CT
The sudden or unexpected loss of a beloved family member can have deep ramifications. If your loved one experienced pain and suffering, had to take unpaid time away from work, or incurred significant medical debt prior to their death, your family might be able to pursue a survival action lawsuit to recover financial compensation for some of those expenses.
A seasoned Waterford survival actions lawyer from Polito & Harrington could review the evidence surrounding your loved one’s untimely death, explain the legal process involved in pursuing a survival action, and let you know if pursuing a legal claim is a viable option for your family. Get in touch with our wrongful death legal team to get started.
People often get confused between survival actions and wrongful death lawsuits. Both types of legal actions can follow the untimely death of someone due to another person or entity’s negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct.
The purpose of a wrongful death lawsuit is to compensate the victim’s family members for what they have lost as a result of their loved one’s preventable death. Surviving family members in a wrongful death suit can seek to recover damages to compensate for losses resulting from their loved one’s untimely death, such as lost wages, companionship, and guidance.
A survival action is different because it compensates for any pre-death damages suffered by the decedent (deceased person), rather than focusing on their surviving family members. This type of lawsuit would survive the death of the injured person. Generally, if an injured person would have had the right to seek justice in court had they survived, Connecticut law would allow their estate to pursue a lawsuit on the same grounds if the person dies from those injuries.
For example, if someone suffered severe injuries in an automobile crash caused by a distracted driver and stayed in a hospital for several weeks receiving treatment, their estate might be eligible to pursue a survival action to recover damages for their immense medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering that they accrued from the time of their injuries up until their death.
Because the factual issues surrounding the untimely death of someone at the hands of another person are usually the same, many families and estates pursue both actions at the same time. Our seasoned Waterford legal team has successfully handled both wrongful death and survival actions. We know how to compassionately and sensitively approach these matters as we work diligently to get the compensation you deserve.
According to Connecticut General Statutes § 52-599, only the administrator or executor of a deceased person’s estate can file a survival action for the benefit of the estate. If the lawsuit is successful, the proceeds from the lawsuit would go to the estate and be distributed to the decedent’s heirs and beneficiaries. Generally, the statute of limitations for pursuing a Waterford survival actions lawsuit is only two years, so it is critical that you reach out to a knowledgeable attorney to discuss your concerns as soon as possible after your loved one’s death.
If you lost your loved one in an untimely accident because of someone else’s negligence or misconduct, you could be facing a difficult time due to unexpected expenses. Fortunately, with the assistance of an experienced Waterford survival actions lawyer, you might be able to obtain compensation to cover your loved one’s losses prior to their death.
Get in touch with the seasoned legal team at Polito & Harrington. We pride ourselves on being accessible to our clients by keeping everyone informed through our robust technology systems.
We are committed to provide personalized attention to each and every client’s case – no matter how large or small– because that is each client’s only case. We are proud of our firm’s reputation of combining integrity and compassion with an unflinching dedication to getting the right result. We will do what we say.
