What are Survival Actions?

A survival action aims to collect damages suffered by a victim prior to their death. This could include the cost of medical care, such as hospitalization, any losses due to property damage, pain, suffering, mental anguish and other potential damages that deserve compensation. Survival actions address damages similar to those a plaintiff might seek in a claim that does not involve a fatality. Any compensation obtained is placed into the estate of the deceased to be to dispersed. Therefore, the settlement or the amount of the awarded damages is not distributed directly to those family members surviving the deceased.