Accident victims can suffer profound losses between their accidents and their subsequent injury-related deaths. The victim’s estate can recover survival damages to compensate for those losses. In all cases, the estate has better odds of collecting larger compensation when it retains an experienced Missouri City, TX survival actions lawyer.
For more than 60 years, the wrongful death attorneys at Schechter Shaffer & Harris have worked tirelessly to get survival damages for accident victims’ estates. We pursue survival action lawsuits to bring closure to families and to deliver the compensation that victims could have recovered if they had not yielded to their injuries.
The Basic Elements of Survival Actions
A Missouri City attorney will file survival actions to claim the damages that victims might have claimed in a lawsuit involving a car accident, trip-and-fall mishap, medical malpractice event, or other negligent occurrence. Those damages include:
- Medical costs and expenses related to a victim’s injuries
- Lost salary and wages
- The value of the victim’s pain and suffering
- Replacement and repair costs for damaged property.
The deadline for filing a survival action is two years from the date of the accident that caused the victim’s injuries. If the accident occurred days or weeks before the victim’s death, that deadline will be earlier than the end date for filing a wrongful death claim.
Per Title 4, Chapter 71 of the Texas Statutes, a survival action can be filed by the executor that a victim has named to manage estate assets; but not, as in wrongful death cases, the victim’s surviving spouse, parents, or children.
Survival actions and wrongful death lawsuits have common fact patterns and are often pursued simultaneously, even though they each target their own specific types of damages. Your survival actions lawyer should provide a thorough explanation of how both actions will be managed in your situation.
Survival Action Damages Are Paid to a Victim’s Estate
Because survival action damages are those that would have been paid to the Missouri City accident victim, the victim’s estate recovers those damages. During the administration and probate process, the estate then first uses those damages and the victim’s other assets to pay creditors. The estate then distributes the remaining balance to the victim’s heirs, as designated by a will or other estate plan.
Your survival action attorney will need to coordinate the lawsuit with the probate court’s administration of the victim’s estate to confirm that all deadlines are being met and that the estate has adequate information about the progress for proper management and closure.
Important Evidence in Survival Actions
A Missouri City lawyer will generally focus survival action lawsuit evidence on a tortfeasor’s duty, the breach of the duty, causation, and damages. In a survival action, the lawyer will further emphasize that:
- The plaintiff is the designated executor of the victim’s estate
- If the victim had lived, he or she would have had a legitimate personal injury cause of action
- The victim could have sued for negligence if he or she had not passed away.
The lawyer will need strong external evidence to demonstrate the causation element of a personal injury lawsuit, as causation may be more challenging to verify without the victim’s direct testimony.
Call Us in Missouri City, TX to Speak With a Survival Action Attorney
The accidental death of a family member due to another party’s negligence inevitably complicates and upends a family’s routine. Rather than facing those complications without help, the victim’s family should hire a Missouri City survival actions lawyer from Schechter Shaffer & Harris to pursue all damages claims.
Please call any of our offices to schedule a free consultation with one of our survival action attorneys today.
