Quick legal quesion

Mr. Incognito · 14-03-2011 4:51pm #1

Quick question for the legal eagles.

Does the death of the actionee in a civil action acutomatically cancel the suit or can the estate continue the action through the representatives??

14-03-2011 4:59pm

Do you mean the death of the plaintiff/claimant? The term actionee is not use but if it did it would mean the person who is the target of the civil action; the actionor would be the plaintiff.

Mr. Incognito · 14-03-2011 5:03pm

The plaintiff yes.

I know that in certain instances death does not act as a bar to action, i.e if the death was caused by the negligence of an employer for instance however in a civil case does the death of the person bringing the action automatically end the action as a general rule or can the estate continue any civil cases already in motion.

14-03-2011 5:14pm

Section 7 of the Civil Liability Act 1961 states that all causes of action vested in the deceased survive for the benefit of his estate. There are certain restrictions on damages however. Just need to check if this has been ammended.

14-03-2011 5:20pm

Don't see anything after a quick search. Somebody else here could correct me but it seems that causes of action automatically survive unless legislation specifies otherwise.

dermot_sheehan · 14-03-2011 8:45pm

The only cause of action I know off hand that does not vest in the estate is a defamation action.

Brother Psychosis · 15-03-2011 11:51am

subject to time limits (2yrs after death, off the top of my head), anyone who could sue or be sued at the time of their death can sue or be sued through their personal representatives

Quick legal quesion

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