In Florida, if a person dies from a car accident, the family can file a wrongful death lawsuit against the negligent party responsible for their family member’s death.
If the accident victim survived the accident, filed a personal injury claim for their injuries, but later died from their injuries, the lawsuit will convert to a wrongful death action upon their death. In Florida, personal injury claims do not survive if the injuries that are the subject of the personal injury claim are the cause of death; rather, those personal injury claims will become wrongful death actions.
Our Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyers can help you sort out the complicated area of personal injury and wrongful death law in Florida. Call us.
Wrongful Death vs. Survival Action
A wrongful death claim seeks damages suffered by the deceased person’s surviving family members, e.g., spouse, or children. Damages collected in a wrongful death claim are collected on behalf of the survivors directly.
A survival action seeks damages related to the plaintiff’s damages prior to death. But the survival action continues injury claims for injuries unrelated to the death. For example, if the deceased person was in a slip and fall accident that injured his knee, filed a claim for the slip and fall, and then later died in a car accident, the slip and fall claim could continue as a survival action. But any claim for the car accident would be a wrongful death claim because the car accident was the cause of death.
Read our previous blog post about a case involving continuing a personal injury claim as a wrongful death case.
If you want to talk to a Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyer about filing a wrongful death claim, the Law Firm of Anidjar & Levine will provide a free, no-obligation consultation. Call us today.
