McKinney Survival Action Lawyer

The most basic difference between a survival action and a wrongful death action is that survival action is a personal injury action for damages that the decedent suffered between the time of the injury and their death. That window between the initial accident and the death could be mere seconds or it could be years. A survival action is typically brought by the estate of the person who was killed, usually through a probate process, and may accompany a wrongful death claim. A McKinney survival action lawyer could help recover compensation on behalf of an injured decedent and hold negligent defendants accountable.

Who is Personal Representative?

A survival action recovers compensation on behalf of the decedent’s estate, not on behalf of the decedent’s family or loved ones. As a result, a designated personal representative of the estate is the only person who may bring a survival action.

The Texas Estates Code lays out who is first, second and third in line to be a personal representative. Typically, a personal injury lawyer will hire another lawyer who works on trusts and estates to manage that part of the case, because they are different types of cases with different nomenclature and everything else.

The order of preference for a personal representative starts with the surviving spouse and then to different relatives. If none are available, a court will appoint somebody willing to serve. Sometimes, an estate lawyer will seek out a survival action lawyer to handle the case and litigate for the pain and suffering claim, the survival claim of the decedent.

Case Process of a Survival Action

A survival action is normally a probate process in which a personal representative is appointed by the probate court to make decisions. Then, the survival action and wrongful death are typically prosecuted together, although they are handled separately by a wrongful death lawyer or one who understands catastrophic injury work.

What Damages are Recovered through a Survival Action?

Normally,  a survival action deals with the last medical bills that the person had from the point of injury to the time of death, so all injuries the person had during that period are appropriate damages for a survival action. Occasionally, there will be a significant lost wages claim, but that is normally when a person survived for months after an incident before they died, a rare occurrence. For all other aspects, it is similar to any other catastrophic injury case, and involves pain, suffering, and impairment from the time of injury until the time of death.

Evidence

In the process of gathering evidence to calculate damages in a survival action, a lawyer may take witness statements of anybody who saw the person between the point of impact and the point of death to learn whether the person was experiencing pain or anguish. A lawyer could look at medical records of personnel on the scene to see whether there was any indication of life, and how long it was before the person died. The medical records can very often indicate pain, and what was done to control it. Evidence that a doctor prescribed painkillers, for example, would demonstrate that the decedent experienced pain.

Hiring a McKinney Survival Action Attorney

A negligent defendant whose actions led to someone else’s death should not be allowed to get away with not paying for hospital bills or lost income. If you are the personal representative of an estate, you could work to pursue those damages with the help of a McKinney survival action lawyer. Contact an attorney today to file a claim.