Survival Statute
What Does Survival Statute Mean?
A survival statute refers to a law that preserves an injured party’s right to file a lawsuit for personal damages before their passing against a negligent party. Additionally, if the injured party has filed a claim before their death, the statute allows their estate or legal representative to continue and pursue the action.
Insuranceopedia Explains Survival Statute
Survival statutes vary by state and typically allow the deceased party’s estate to claim damages incurred before their death. In other words, these statutes enable the estate to seek damages that the deceased could have pursued had they survived. Unlike a wrongful death action, which focuses on the economic impact of the death on the beneficiaries, a survival action addresses various damages the deceased suffered before death, such as emotional distress, medical expenses, and pain and suffering.
Since there is no standard or objective method for determining non-physical damages like emotional trauma and pain and suffering, insurance companies use various approaches to calculate an appropriate amount.
