Chantal Trujillo, senior partner at Rodriguez & Associates, authored a perspective article for the Daily Journal titled, “Understanding the Nuances of Survival and Wrongful Death Actions,” which explores the differences between the two types of actions and how limitations may affect the damages a plaintiff can recover.
Chantal discusses changes to survival action laws in 2022 that impact the types of damages a plaintiff can recover and how evidence can substantiate pain and suffering including the role of family members, the victim’s last words, and testimony of first responders. She also provides the defense’s perspective, explaining how defending in cases of survival or wrongful death actions can present similar limitations when it comes to substantiating evidence.
“In the cases where the decedent was conscious for some time before dying, the emotional impact of their feelings of doom and struggle to live is one that many of the jurors relate to, which will serve to increase the amount of damages awarded.”
Chantal Trujillo, senior partner, Rodriguez & Associates
As a Kern County California personal injury trial attorney at Rodriguez & Associates, Chantal emphasizes the importance of working with firms that have extensive experience handling survival and wrongful death actions and that have access to expert witnesses who can identify and quantify the damages experienced by the plaintiff.
To read Chantal’s Daily Journal article in full, click here.