New Jersey law allows the filing of Wrongful Death Lawsuits and Survival Actions. Both types of lawsuits focus on the harm done to a deceased person. These claims need legal skill and experience to prosecute. These cases also have big differences that we explore below.
We understand that money can’t compensate for the loss of a loved one. However, the justice system can provide monetary awards for damages caused to a decedent and the decedent’s heirs. Anyone who believes they have grounds to pursue either of these actions should talk to an experienced lawyer who knows the laws we discuss here.
Wrongful Death Claims Protect the Heir’s Rights
New Jersey has a Wrongful Death Act at N.J.S.A. § 2A:31-1, et seq. It says that a wrongful death action for financial compensation may be filed when a person’s wrongful act or neglect causes the deceased person to die and, had the deceased person not died, he or she would have been able to file a lawsuit for financial compensation resulting from his or her injuries. These actions belong to the deceased person’s heirs, not the deceased person himself.
Wrongful death claims must be filed within two years of the death under New Jersey’s statute of limitations. This statute of limitations is a critical consideration because failing to file within this time period will leave the person’s heirs unable to recover financial compensation under the Wrongful Death Act.
New Jersey’s Wrongful Death Act begins like this:
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim?
A wrongful death claim are brought in the name of the administrator or executor of the decedent’s estate. However, the deceased person’s heirs are entitled to collect the financial compensation resulting from the person’s death. Whether someone is an “heir” is a legal question under New Jersey’s laws regarding decedent’s estates.
What Damages Are Available in Wrongful Death Claims?
New Jersey’s Wrongful Death Act specifies that the deceased person’s heirs are entitled to compensation for the Pecuniary Losses they suffer as a result of the death. The most common forms of pecuniary losses compensated under the Wrongful Death Act are for funeral expenses and the loss of financial contributions from the deceased person. These losses are calculated based on two questions:
- Is it probable that the deceased person would have contributed to the survivors?
- How much would the deceased person have contributed to them?
The ultimate focus in determining how much these losses are worth in a financial sense is on the value of what the deceased person would have contributed to his or her survivors had he or she not been killed. Wrongful death claims are not eligible to recover punitive damages because wrongful death actions are intended to remedy the harm done to the heirs rather than penalize the responsible party.
Survival Actions Protect the Deceased Person’s Rights
New Jersey has also has a Survivor’s Act, which is found at N.J.S.A. 2A:15-3. It permits an appointed representative to file any lawsuit that the deceased person could have filed had he or she not passed away. This may sound very similar to a Wrongful Death Action, but Survival Actions differ.
The Survival Action typically seeks monetary damages for the pain and suffering of the decedent. It preserves the lawsuit that the deceased person could have filed to enforce his or her own rights if he or she had not died. The claim belongs to the deceased person’s estate. This contrasts with a Wrongful Death Action, which must be filed by the estate’s representative but actually belongs to the heirs of the deceased person.
Who Can File a Survival Action?
The person appointed as a representative of the decedent files the survival action. The financial compensation received in these lawsuits is subject to the claims of the deceased person’s creditors because the lawsuit technically belongs to the deceased person’s estate. However, anything left after the creditors (if there are any) are left with the deceased person’s estate.
What Damages Are Available in Survival Actions?
New Jersey’s Survival Action statute compensates the deceased person’s estate for the deceased person’s pain, suffering, medical expenses, and earnings lost between the act that injured the deceased person and the person’s death.
New Jersey also allows an award of punitive damages in a survival action under two circumstances. First, punitive damages may be awarded if it can be proven that the deceased person’s pain and suffering were caused by the responsible party’s actual malice, or, in other words, if it can be proved the responsible party intended the harm. Second, these damages can be awarded if the responsible party acted with a wanton and willful disregard of the people who foreseeably might be harmed by the responsible party’s conduct.
We’re Here to Help You
Filing a lawsuit to recover financial compensation for your loved one’s death is emotionally and mentally strenuous. The process of litigating a Wrongful Death claim or a Survival Action has minute details and distinctions that can reduce or even prevent you from receiving any compensation for your loss.
By choosing Shuttleworth Law P.C., you’re hiring experienced attorneys who knows how to fight for their clients publicly while acting as their trusted, compassionate counsel behind closed doors. We bring an ideal balance of litigation skills and genuine concern for human beings to all of our cases that have led to hundreds of satisfied clients.
Call Shuttleworth Law P.C. for a Free Consultation
You deserve to know what legal options are available after the death of a loved one. A New Jersey personal injury attorney can help. Call Shuttleworth Law P.C. for a Free Case Evaluation at 888-529-3486 or message us directly via the secure contact form linked right here.
You’ll speak with Brad V. Shuttleworth, Esq., our firm’s founder. Also, there are no attorneys’ fees for our legal services unless we recover money for your Wrongful Death and Survival Action claim.