Minnesota's Survivorship Law Adds New Protections for Injured People and Their Families
The death of a family member may be the worst experience you ever go through. Day-to-day problems suddenly seem tiny after the loss of a loved one. The Minnesota legislature has just provided some additional compensation to ease the burden of grieving Minnesotans whose family members had been injured by the fault of others.
The Minnesota Survivorship Statute, included in the Omnibus Judiciary and Public Safety Bill, became law on May 20, 2023, the day after the governor signed it. Unlike the previous law, surviving spouses and family members may now include claims for the pain, suffering, embarrassment, emotional distress, disability, and disfigurement suffered by the injured person before they died, regardless of whether the injury caused the death or was just coincidental.
Previously, when an injured person died, most of their personal injury claim for damages died with them. If the death was unrelated to the injury, the only surviving claim was the “special damages” — medical bills and lost wages caused by the injuries.
On the other hand, if the injury caused the death, the family was limited to those economic losses and the value of lost “counsel, guidance and aid” and “advice, comfort, assistance, companionship, and protection.”
The previous law allowed nothing for the pain, suffering, embarrassment, emotional distress, disability, and disfigurement suffered by the injured person before they died. That has all changed now thanks to the Governor, the Legislature, and advocates for injured people throughout the state, including SiebenCarey.
Until now, insurance adjusters and defense attorneys have been known to drag their feet if an injured person is either very old or sick. They knew that if they delayed long enough and the injured person passed away, a large portion of the claim would simply disappear. That is no longer the case. All personal injury damages now survive the death of the injured person.
Effective Immediately
Most importantly, this change is effective immediately and affects all pending and future claims. If you have lost a family member through negligence or fault, it’s now a much better case.
This is a dramatic and important change in the law. There are numerous personal injuries where the unrelated death of the victim would have killed the claim altogether, and the defendant and insurer would receive a windfall benefit from the death. Many Minnesota auto crash cases are in this category since only the claim for medical bills and wages would survive the death, and the first $20,000 of medical and first $20,000 of wages are usually deducted from the verdict because they are paid by car insurance. Many Minnesota families have experienced economic loss when a personal injury case being negotiated between $700,000 and $900,000 suddenly lost all value because of the injured person’s death. Not anymore.
Suffering the loss of a family member is a terrible time, and no amount of money can ease the pain of such a loss. This new law provides at least a small measure of justice for people suffering such terrible losses.
