Survival Action VS Wrongful Death

Survival actions and wrongful death claims get confused because they can arise from the same fatal event, but they serve different legal purposes. 

A survival action focuses on the losses the injured person suffered before death, while a wrongful death claim focuses on the losses the family suffers because of the death. Tennessee ties these concepts together more tightly than many states. The quickest way to get clarity is to lay out the timeline from injury to treatment to death and identify who has the legal right to bring the case. 

Palmer Law, PLC handles wrongful death matters and can review the facts, deadlines, and documentation that determine case direction. Schedule a consultation to shape leverage early.

Survival Action in Tennessee

A survival action is the continuation of the injured person’s claim for what happened to them between the moment of injury and the moment of death. Think of it as the legal system asking: 

What would the person have been able to claim if they had lived long enough to file or finish a personal injury case?

In Tennessee, the recoverable damages tied to the deceased person’s own injuries can include items like medical expenses incurred before death, the person’s conscious pain and suffering, and loss of time (which is commonly tied to the period the person was alive after the injury). Tennessee’s wrongful death damages statute expressly recognizes recovery for “mental and physical suffering, loss of time and necessary expenses resulting to the deceased from the personal injuries.” Those categories are the backbone of the survival-type portion of a fatal-injury claim.

Tennessee’s approach is important: rather than treating “survival” and “wrongful death” as two completely separate lawsuits, Tennessee law provides that the right of action the person would have had “shall not abate” and passes to specific individuals in a statutory order (often beginning with the surviving spouse, then children/next of kin, or a personal representative for their benefit). Tennessee courts have also described the wrongful death statutory scheme as survival in character, while still recognizing that it is distinct from other survival concepts.

Insurance companies often try to compress the time period between injury and death, downplay consciousness, or argue that treatment was unrelated. An experienced Nashville wrongful death lawyer will usually focus on objective proof: EMS records, hospital notes, pain medication timing, diagnostic imaging, and treating-provider records that establish what the person experienced and what care was required. This is also where billing records and lien issues become central, because survival-type damages often include substantial medical charges.

What Is a Wrongful Death Claim and What Can It Recover

A wrongful death claim is brought because a person died due to another party’s wrongful act or omission. Tennessee’s wrongful death statute preserves the decedent’s right of action and directs who may bring it and who benefits. In other words, Tennessee frames wrongful death as the injured person’s claim continuing forward, but pursued for the benefit of statutory beneficiaries.

Tennessee’s damages statute covers two broad buckets in the same provision: (1) the damages the deceased person suffered before death (survival-type items), and (2) “the damages resulting to the parties for whose use and benefit the right of action survives from the death.” That second bucket often includes the economic value of the person’s earning capacity and household services and other measurable losses tied to the death, along with other recognized components depending on the facts and proof.

Tennessee law also sets a priority structure for the right of action (commonly starting with the surviving spouse, then children/next of kin, and in some circumstances a personal representative for the benefit of those beneficiaries). This priority can become a dispute when family relationships are strained or when multiple people believe they should control the case. A Nashville wrongful death attorney can help determine the correct plaintiff and avoid missteps that create delay or procedural challenges.

Finally, many personal injury actions must be filed within one year, and wrongful death claims are often analyzed under that one-year limitations period measured from the date of the injury that caused death (which is not always the date of death). For families, that means the window for a thorough investigation can be tight, especially when the incident involves commercial defendants, multiple insurers, or governmental notice issues.

How Do You Know Whether You Have a Survival Action, a Wrongful Death Case, or Both

Here is a clean way to identify what case you have:

1) Did the person survive for any period after the injury?

If there was any interval between injury and death, there may be survival-type damages tied to medical care, pain, and other pre-death losses. Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-113 explicitly recognizes recovery for the deceased person’s suffering, loss of time, and necessary expenses from the injury.

2) Who suffered legally recognized financial loss because of the death?

When the death caused the loss of financial support, services, and other measurable losses to statutory beneficiaries, those are wrongful-death-type damages addressed in the same damages statute. This is where employment history, tax records, benefits information, and household service evidence often matter.

3) Who has the legal right to file the case?

Even when everyone agrees the defendant should be held accountable, the right to bring the action follows Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-106’s statutory structure, which identifies who the claim passes to and how it may be pursued for the benefit of the proper parties. Sorting this out early reduces the risk of competing filings and delays. A Nashville wrongful death lawyer can also evaluate whether an estate representative should be appointed to manage the claim for the benefit of the proper parties.

4) Are you inside the limitations window? 

Because Tennessee often applies a one-year period to these claims, timing should be treated as an evidence and filing issue, not an administrative detail. The earlier a review happens, the easier it is to preserve records and obtain witness statements before memories fade and documentation becomes harder to collect.

Palmer Law, PLC for Nashville Wrongful Death Representation

Families often lose leverage when a fatal case is treated like a routine claim, when the wrong plaintiff files, or when proof of pre-death suffering and economic loss is not organized early under Tennessee’s wrongful death statutes.

Palmer Law, PLC focuses on building claims around medical records, liability evidence, and damages documentation that insurers must take seriously. If you need a wrongful death attorney in Nashville to evaluate whether your case involves survival-type damages, beneficiary losses, or both under Tennessee law, call (615) 434-6270 and contact us today to schedule a consultation and take the next step with clear direction.