Survival vs. Wrongful Death

The term "wrongful death" is actually a bit of a misnomer.  In the unfortunate event that someone suffers an untimely death, one would intuitively think that the appropriate claim to file would be a "wrongful death" claim, to recover for losses suffered by the individual that suffered the untimely death.

Under Illinois statutory law, however, the Wrongful Death Act does not recover for damages incurred by the deceased.  Wrongful death claims recover for losses sustained by the spouse and the next of kin of the individual who suffered a wrongful death. 740 ILCS 180/0.01

On the other hand, a survival action is a claim brought in order to recover for personal injury and other property losses suffered by an individual before succumbing their injuries.  A personal injury attorney will ensure that all appropriate claims are made in order to ensure that victims of personal injuries recover the compensation they are owed.

What does “personal injury law” really mean?

Personal injury law is a nuanced body of civil law.  The word civil is important here because personal injury law gives injured people the right to sue in a civil action, as opposed to a criminal action. Another word for a civil action is: tort.

According to Black's Law Dictionary, a tort is:

"1. A civil wrong, other than breach of contract, for which a remedy may be obtained...in the form of damages;  a breach of duty that the law imposes on persons who stand in a particular relation to one another.  2. The branch of law dealing with such wrongs."

There are numerous sub-categories of torts, including, but not limited to:

• constitutional torts,


• dignatary torts/defamation,


• governmental torts,


• intentional torts, e.g. battery,


• mass torts,


• negligent torts,


• personal torts,


• prenatal torts,


• prima facie torts,


• property torts,


• public torts,


• quasi-torts, and


• toxic torts.

A person who commits a tort is called a: tortfeasor.

It is easy to think of torts/personal injuries in terms of real world occurrences, e.g. dog bites, atv accidents, trucking collisions, boating accidents, car crashes.  Personal injuries occur with shocking frequency.  It's very easy to understand the real world consequences of these injuries because they are so evident.  What is not so obvious is that there are laws that exist to provide people with compensation for their injuries, personal injury laws.

So very often, people don't realize that they are entitled to compensation for their injuries.  Very often they fall through the cracks of the legal system and do not recover for their injuries. Personal injury attorneys ensure that people do not fall through the cracks, and ensure that people receive the compensation that they are entitled.