Answers To Your Legal Questions

 

Q: What is a Survival Action?

A: When a person's death is caused by the negligent act of another person, Washington's survival statutes preserve causes of action that the deceased person could have brought had he or she survived.  The purpose of awarding damages under the survival statutes is to remedy the old common law anomaly which only allowed accident victims to sue if they survived an accident but barred the claim if they died.  This means that a survival action is a claim for injuries and damages that the deceased suffered prior to death, and which the deceased could have pursued had he/she lived.

An example of a survival action would be where the deceased is injured but does not die immediately from those injuries.  This time period between the injury and death may be short (a few hours or a few days), or the period may be much longer (a few months or even years). During this period, the deceased may have incurred more medical bills and other expenses, and may also have experienced ongoing physical pain and mental suffering before death. In a case like this, in addition to a wrongful death claim the deceased’s estate may also pursue a survival action to recover these pre-death damages which were proximately  caused by the at-fault party’s negligence or wrongful act.

More Legal Questions?
Do you have more legal questions about injury cases about wrongful death law in Washington state?  Return to the Washington Wrongful Death Law questions page. 

Or order download your FREE copy of the report: Understanding Wrongful Death In Washington State. [PDF]  .

To get more information about Washington state wrongful death law, wrongful death lawsuits, and Seattle wrongful death attorneys visit our wrongful death and fatal accidents information page. 

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