For family members who are coping with the tragic loss of a loved one, taking appropriate legal action is an important step in the recovery process. Holding the at-fault party accountable can provide much-needed closure, and it can also help ensure that family members have the financial resources they need for the future.
In Illinois, grieving families can often pursue two separate legal claims following a fatal accident. Along with filing a wrongful death claim, in many cases, families will be able to file a survival action as well.
While these two claims are often pursued together, they serve different purposes and involve different types of damages. In many cases, pursuing both claims allows families to account for the full scope of what was lost, from the impact on surviving loved ones to the pain and suffering the victim experienced prior to passing.
A wrongful death claim is a legal action that is focused on recovering compensation for eligible family members’ losses resulting from a loved one’s fatal accident. Under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act (740 ILCS 180), eligible family members can seek to recover damages including:
Wrongful death claims must be filed by the victim’s personal representative (who is typically the victim’s parent, spouse, adult child, or another close family member). However, any damages recovered will be awarded directly to the family members who are entitled to receive them.
While wrongful death claims focus on recovering financial compensation for eligible family members’ losses, survival actions focus on recovering financial compensation for the victim’s losses prior to his or her death. This means that filing a survival action requires evidence that the victim survived for a period of time after the fatal accident. Depending on the circumstances, recoverable damages in a survival action may include:
Similar to wrongful death claims, survival actions must be filed by the victim’s personal representative. However, unlike wrongful death claims, damages awarded in survival actions are paid to the victim’s estate. The damages are then distributed to the victim’s heirs or beneficiaries according to his or her estate plan; or, if there is no estate plan, in accordance with Illinois’s laws governing intestate succession.
If you have tragically lost a loved one in a fatal accident, determining your family’s legal rights will require a prompt and thorough investigation. With this in mind, if you need to know more, we strongly encourage you to speak with a lawyer right away. After investigating your loved one’s accident, an experienced wrongful death lawyer will be able to determine which claim (or claims) your family is eligible to file, and then he or she will be able to begin the process of calculating the damages your family is entitled to recover.
Do you need to know more about your family’s legal rights? If so, an experienced Chicago wrongful death lawyer at our firm can explain everything you need to know. We handle all wrongful death claims and survival actions at no out-of-pocket cost to our clients.
Contact the Chicago wrongful death lawyers at Coplan + Crane today online or at (312) 982-0588 for a FREE case evaluation. We proudly serve clients across Illinois, including Chicago, Oak Park, Rockford, and other areas.
