Isenberg & Hewitt, PC | A Business And Personal Injury Law Firm | Since 1989
Isenberg & Hewitt, PC | A Business And Personal Injury Law Firm | Since 1989
To talk with a lawyer call (770) 901-2666
Isenberg & Hewitt, PC | A Business And Personal Injury Law Firm | Since 1989
To talk with a lawyer call (770) 901-2666

Distinguished Georgia Trial Attorneys

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Wrongful death claims and statutes of limitation

On Behalf of | Nov 18, 2016 | Wrongful Death

When a Georgia resident dies under questionable circumstances, it is not always immediately apparent that the death resulted from negligence. This is important because wrongful death cases have statutes of limitations that apply, and if a statute of limitations expires before a case is filed, the family members may not be able to recover damages.

In Georgia, personal injury and wrongful death actions must be brought within two years of the incident. It is possible for this time limit to be tolled in certain cases, however. For example, if a person has died, the statute of limitations will begin running when a family member discovers or reasonably should have discovered that negligence led to the person’s death.

If an injured victim later dies from an injury but did not bring a personal injury claim while alive, the ability of the survivors to file a wrongful death claim will be barred if the decedent’s personal injury statute of limitations previously ran. People who have questions about how the statute of limitations might apply in their loved ones’ cases might want to talk to personal injury lawyers.

Fatal accidents can occur in a variety of ways, from motor vehicle collisions to airplane crashes to slips and falls on wet surfaces to a defective product. The family members of a decedent who died in such a manner may want to meet with an attorney in order to determine what is necessary to recover damages in a wrongful death lawsuit. At the outset, the attorney will need to review the evidence in order to determine that the fatality was attributable to the negligence of another party.