Survival Actions in Nashville Wrongful Death Cases

Survival actions in Nashville wrongful death cases are claims, lawsuits, or a legal rights that a person has before they die that survives their death. Their rightful heirs or Estate can pursue the action on their behalf. For instance, if someone had a breach of contract claim and they pass away, that can be continued by their Estate as a wrongful death claim. A survival action is for injuries or pain and suffering such as something that that individual had to go through before they passed.

One scenario would be a person in an automobile accident who lives for a few days or some time period before they pass. In that case, any pain and suffering damages that they incurred while they were alive continues on as their Survival Action. A Wrongful Death case, on the other hand, is for damages that arose solely as the result of the death which can be somebody's lost wages, the emotional losses after someone passes away, and different damages along those lines. Contact a skilled wrongful death lawyer regarding any questions or concerns you may have regarding the loss of your loved one. 

A representative of an estate for someone who did not have a Will is usually their next of kin. However, for survival actions in Nashville wrongful death cases, a representative could be a friend, or a lawyer. If somebody dies and leaves a spouse, their spouse is usually the person that becomes the Representative of the Estate. If they had grown children, it might be one of them.

If they have parents, it could be one of them. It almost always goes to the person's closest next-of–kin, but it does not have to be. Anyone can Petition the Court to be appointed as Personal Representative and the Court needs to be comfortable that they will uphold all of their legal duties as a Personal Representative of the Estate.

The first thing would be to make sure that the potential client has the authority to bring the lawsuit or pursue survival actions in Nashville wrongful death cases on behalf of the decedent. The law is very adamant that there is only going to be one person that can bring the lawsuit. The law in the State of Tennessee does not want four or five lawsuits hanging around that involve the same subject matter, so the law gives priority to certain people.

Usually under the Statutes in the State of Tennessee, it is going to be the closest next–of-kin who almost always has the highest priority, or the spouse. There are exceptions, but that is pretty standard.

If the potential client does have the authority to bring the lawsuit, a review of the underlying lawsuit and what the action involves would be necessary. A discussion with the proposed defendant might be warranted before the filing of a lawsuit, if they are willing to talk.

The biggest thing somone can do to help their case is to contact their Wrongful Death or Survival Action Lawyer early. The more time that passes, the harder it is to get witness statements, photographs or pictures of vehicles, or, if it is a product liability case, to get that product. It just takes time to put cases together and the longer someone waits, the more difficult that becomes. Time is the enemy in these lawsuits.