Nashville Survival Action Case Process

The first step in the Nashville survival action case process is making a legal determination as who has priority to bring the lawsuit. Individuals can then review the underlying case with an experienced survival action attorney. They can help determine whether it is a survival action or a wrongful death or any type of negligence case.

A determination needs to be made as to who is at fault, whether it can be proven, what the damages are and the details of the injuries that lead to death. Family and loved ones must decide whether they want an early settlement or resolution, which is often recommended to avoid the emotional stress of a lawsuit. If that is not a viable option, then a lawsuit is filed and the case moves forward.

Defining the Black Letter Law

An important part of the Nashville survival action case process is proving breach, duty and causation. The Black Letter Law in any wrongful death or survival case from any injury means that a person has a duty to others including. That may be a duty to drive safely and not run a red light, or not to text on the phone while driving. It would be a breach of that duty if they were operating their car recklessly or if a doctor did not act within the reasonable standard of care in the community. Causation needs to be established.

Civil Court vs. Private Negotiation

The attorney and the clients will meet and discuss their strategy for their Nashville survival action case process. Once liability has been established (it has been determined who is at fault) and the damages have been assessed. A decision to reach-out to the defendant or insurance company to possibly resolve the case before litigation may be decided. Sometimes clients want to do this to avoid litigation, and other times clients want to move forward with the lawsuit.

If the decision is to reach out to the defendant or the insurance company to discuss an early settlement, the negotiations will begin. If the insurance company does not offer enough money to settle the lawsuit, it would be recommended to move forward with the lawsuit.

Timeline of a Survival Action

Wrongful death actions encompass a Survival Action and are wrapped up into one single lawsuit. As far as length of time in pursuing a Wrongful Death lawsuit, it all depends on how complicated the underlying case is.

If any experts are required (as in a nursing home case), there would be a physician expert, a nurse expert, an accountant sometimes; who can take a lot of time to prepare correctly for a jury trial. In a car accident case, with witnesses who saw it and it is a fairly clean liability case, that may run a lot faster.

Role of an Attorney

The Nashville survival action case process depends on the type of lawsuit that is filed. If someone pursues a wrongful death car accident case, witnesses would be contacted and interviewed to help determine who was at fault. If there are no witnesses, an Accident Reconstructionist and other experts will be contacted to determine how the accident occurred. In certain newer vehicles, it would be possible to obtain information from the black box in their car.

For nursing home wrongful death cases or survival actions, the attorney would need to rely more heavily on medical experts to determine what happened to the nursing home resident and whether the injuries could have been avoided.