A loved one’s accidental death is always painful and traumatic for the family members left behind, but it’s particularly devastating when the death was caused by someone else’s carelessness or wrongdoing and could have been prevented with reasonable care.
No legal process can erase what happened, but Illinois law offers two legal avenues for the family to recover compensation and a sense of justice. Before moving forward, it’s important to understand the difference between a wrongful death claim and a survival action in Illinois. In the event a loved one passed due to another’s negligence, contact our wrongful death lawyer in Chicago for legal help.
A wrongful death claim is a category of personal injury law. Personal injury law centers on the common understanding that individuals and businesses owe a duty of reasonable care to others to avoid causing them injury or death. When someone else’s careless, reckless, or wrongful actions cause a family member’s death, the loss has financial impacts on the family as well as emotional ones. Common causes of wrongful death include:
A wrongful death claim filed against the responsible party recovers compensation for economic losses, like funeral costs and the lost income and benefits of the decedent, and for the emotional consequences, like compensation for grief, anguish, and loss of love, guidance, and support.
While some states allow a family member to file a wrongful death claim directly, under the Illinois wrongful death statute, only the representative of the decedent’s estate may file a claim on behalf of the closest surviving family member; however, if the decedent doesn’t have a named representative, a family member may petition the court to serve as representative.
A survival action is a legal process that replaces a personal injury claim or continues the claim after the injury victim’s death, when the death was caused by someone else’s negligent or wrongful actions. While similar to a wrongful death claim, a survival action claim in Illinois is often a better option when the injury victim didn’t die immediately from the injury, but survived for a time and experienced related financial losses, like medical expenses and lost earnings that adversely affected their estate.
The decedent’s personal representative or executor of their estate either files a survival action claim on behalf of the estate or converts the injury victim’s established personal injury claim into a survival action after the death.
A successful survival action recovers compensation for losses to the estate, such as medical expenses, income loss, and out-of-pocket costs, and also provides compensation for the pain, suffering, and fear of imminent death the injury victim experienced before death. The amount recovered in a survival claim is then distributed according to the decedent’s will or Illinois’ intestacy laws for those who die without a will.
A Chicago personal injury lawyer can tell you more about which action better suits the circumstances of your loved one’s death.
"*" indicates required fields