MBE Rules · Torts
Wrongful death
The rule
Wrongful-death statutes create a cause of action in the decedent's statutory beneficiaries (typically spouse, children, or next of kin) to recover for their own losses caused by the death — such as lost financial support, lost services, and, in most states, lost society and companionship. The claim is measured by the beneficiaries' losses, not the decedent's pain or lost enjoyment.
In plain English
This is a new claim belonging to the survivors, not the decedent. It compensates what THEY lost by the death.
The trap
Confusing wrongful death (survivors' losses) with a survival action (decedent's own pre-death claims). They coexist and are pleaded together.
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