Wrongful death lawsuits compensate family members for the financial and emotional impact of losing their loved one. Survival actions compensate the deceased’s estate for personal injuries suffered prior to death. Depending on the circumstances of your loved one’s death in Indiana, you may be able to seek compensation through both wrongful death claims and survival claims.
Contact the wrongful death lawyers of Truitt Law Offices for a free consultation about your case. We’ll help you learn the differences between a wrongful death lawsuit and a survival action, then determine whether you can seek the compensation you deserve through one or the other — or both.
Table of Contents
- 1 What Is a Wrongful Death Claim in Indiana?
- 2 Who Can File an Indiana Wrongful Death Claim?
- 3 What Types of Compensation Are Available in Indiana Wrongful Death Claims?
- 4 What Is a Survival Claim (Survival Action) in Indiana?
- 5 Who Can File an Indiana Survival Action Claim?
- 6 What Types of Compensation Are Available in Indiana Survival Action Claims?
- 7 Contact an Indiana Wrongful Death Lawyer
What Is a Wrongful Death Claim in Indiana?
Under Indiana law, a wrongful death occurs when a death is caused by the wrongful act or omission of another party. Examples include if your loved one died in an accident caused by an intoxicated driver or if medical malpractice contributed to their death during a routine procedure.
If your loved one would have been able to file a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault party had they survived, you have a wrongful death claim. The deadline for filing a wrongful death lawsuit is two years.
Who Can File an Indiana Wrongful Death Claim?
In Indiana, which person can file a wrongful death lawsuit depends on the age of the deceased. If the deceased was an adult, the only person who can file a wrongful death lawsuit is the personal representative of the estate. However, they generally file the lawsuit on behalf of the deceased’s surviving family members, including:
- The spouse of the deceased
- The dependent children of the deceased
- The dependent next of kin of the deceased
According to Indiana law, if the deceased was a child, their parents, guardian, or the personal representative of the estate can file a wrongful death lawsuit. Importantly, this statute defines a child as an unmarried individual without dependents who is:
- Younger than 20 years old, or
- Younger than 23 years old and enrolled in a postsecondary educational institution or a career and technical education school
What Types of Compensation Are Available in Indiana Wrongful Death Claims?
There are various types of compensation available through a wrongful death lawsuit in Indiana. However, some forms of compensation go to the deceased’s estate, while others go to the surviving family members:
- Medical Expenses – Compensation for the medical expenses incurred by the deceased due to the incident that caused their death goes to the estate. The estate uses these funds to pay off the deceased’s medical bills.
- Funeral and Burial Expenses – Compensation for the deceased’s funeral and burial expenses also goes to the estate and is used to pay for the funeral and burial.
- Loss of Future Income – Compensation for the income the deceased would have earned throughout their life had they not died goes to the surviving family members.
- Loss of Household Services – Compensation for the cost of the deceased’s household services goes to the surviving family so they can pay a third party to perform those services.
- Loss of Companionship and Consortium – The surviving family members can also seek compensation for loss of companionship and consortium. Loss of companionship includes the loss of things like the love, care, and guidance the deceased would have provided to family members. Loss of consortium refers to the marital losses experienced by the surviving spouse, including the loss of companionship, affection, and sexual relations.
What Is a Survival Claim (Survival Action) in Indiana?
Under Indiana law, a survival action is a personal injury lawsuit that the deceased wasn’t able to see through to completion because of their death. As long as they died before the deadline for filing their injury lawsuit, the lawsuit “survives” and is passed on to the personal representative of the estate, who has 18 months to file the survival action.
For example, let’s say your loved one suffered a serious dog bite injury but then died in a car crash a few months later, before the resolution of their injury lawsuit. You may have a wrongful death claim for the car accident, but you would also have a survival action for the dog bite incident.
Survival actions also apply when the person being sued dies before the lawsuit occurs or concludes. If the defendant dies, the lawsuit against them survives and passes to their estate.
Who Can File an Indiana Survival Action Claim?
One key difference between wrongful death and survival action lawsuits is that only the personal representative of the deceased’s estate can file a survival action. The compensation recovered through this action also goes directly to the estate because it’s money that the deceased would have received had they not died.
What Types of Compensation Are Available in Indiana Survival Action Claims?
The compensation available in Indiana survival action lawsuits is the same as in personal injury lawsuits:
- Medical Expenses – This compensation is for the medical expenses related to the personal injury that the deceased would have been able to recover had they not died.
- Lost Wages – This compensation is for the wages and benefits the deceased would have lost during their recovery period and in the long term due to their injury’s impact on their ability to work.
- Pain and Suffering – This compensation is for the physical pain and emotional suffering experienced by the deceased because of their injury.
Contact an Indiana Wrongful Death Lawyer
At Truitt Law Offices, we have over 40 years of experience and a track record of obtaining maximum results for accident victims and their families, including multimillion-dollar settlements and verdicts.
Our sole focus is on personal injury cases, including those leading to wrongful death claims and survival claims, and we use our insider perspective of insurance company defense strategies to seek the compensation our clients need. Don’t just take our word for it, though; see what our clients say about working with our team in our 100+ five-star reviews on Google.
If your loved one died as a result of someone else’s negligent actions in the Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the immediate area, contact Truitt Law Offices for a free consultation with an experienced wrongful death lawyer.
