Two claims, and a deadline shorter than you expect
When a death is caused by someone else’s negligence, New York recognizes two separate claims. The wrongful death action belongs to the family — the distributees — and compensates them for what they lost financially: the income, the services, the parental guidance. Alongside it, a survival action belongs to the estate and covers what the person themselves went through between the injury and death, including their conscious pain and suffering.
You should know the hardest part of New York law in advance, because it is not what most families assume. Wrongful death damages here are limited to pecuniary loss. Grief, and the loss of companionship itself, are not compensable in this state — legislatures have tried repeatedly to change that and it has not yet happened. It does not make the claim small, but it does mean the case is built on economic proof, and it is better to hear it from us at the start than from an adjuster later.
The deadline is generally two years from the date of death, not the three years that applies to an ordinary injury claim. Where a public entity is involved it collapses to a 90-day Notice of Claim. And nothing can be filed at all until someone is appointed to represent the estate, which is a Surrogate’s Court process that takes time of its own. Two years is less room than it sounds like.
The cases we handle most
Fatal collisions
Car, truck, motorcycle and pedestrian deaths, where the underlying liability case is built the same way.
Construction site deaths
Falls and struck-by deaths, where the Labor Law reaches owners and general contractors.
Medical negligence
Deaths from surgical error, missed diagnosis or medication mistakes, on their own shorter deadlines.
Premises and criminal acts
Deaths from unsafe conditions, and from inadequate security where the danger was foreseeable.
What we do once you call
We take over the investigation and the notices so the family is not managing insurers, and we preserve the evidence the case will need.
We begin the Surrogate’s Court appointment of an estate representative, because no claim can be filed until it is done, and we obtain the records and autopsy findings.
We document the economic loss — earnings, benefits, the services they provided the household — and the conscious pain and suffering the survival claim covers.
We demand against every available policy and file suit within the two-year period, or the far shorter public-entity window where one applies.
Common questions
Who is allowed to bring the case?
The personal representative of the estate brings it, on behalf of the distributees — usually a spouse, children or parents. Appointing that representative goes through Surrogate’s Court, and because nothing can be filed before it is done, it is the first thing we start.
Can we recover for our grief?
Not under current New York law, and we would rather tell you plainly than let you find out at the end. Wrongful death recovery here is limited to pecuniary loss. The survival claim for what your family member consciously suffered before death is separate and is often substantial.
There’s a criminal case going on. Should we wait?
No. The two are independent, a civil claim does not have to wait for a prosecution to finish, and waiting can put you past the deadline. The criminal case may produce useful evidence, but it is not a substitute and it does not compensate your family.