Question: Does a person who has an injury case, but dies from unrelated causes before the case is resolved, lose that case?
Answer: No.
See below. The Indiana Survival Statute creates a limited spectrum of cases, personal to a decedent, that survive after a decedent’s death in favor of the personal representative of the decedent’s estate. The Indiana Survival Statute, states:
All causes of action survive, and may be bought, notwithstanding the death of the individual who is entitled or liable in such an action, by or against the representative of the deceased party except actions for libel, slander, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, invasion of privacy, and personal injuries to the deceased party, which shall survive only to the extent provided herein. An action under this section may be brought, or the court, on motion, may allow the action to be continued, by or against the legal representatives or successors in interest of the deceased. Such an action is considered as a continued action, and accrues to the representatives or successors at the time it would have accrued to the deceased if the deceased had survived.
If any action has been commended against the decedent before the decedent’s death, the action is continued by substituting decedent’s personal representatives. If the action is brought after the death of a defendant, then the same action shall be prosecuted as are other claims against the decedent’s estate.