A “wrongful death” occurs when a person is killed due to the negligence or misconduct of another individual, company or entity. Every state has a civil “wrongful death statute,” or set of statutes, which establish the procedures for bringing wrongful death actions. A suit for wrongful death may only be brought by the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries, and the most common beneficiaries are surviving spouses and children, and sometimes parents.

To assist immediate family members in these terribly unfortunate situations, Louisiana law allows the surviving family members to make wrongful death claims and file survival actions.

The purpose of wrongful death claims and survival actions is to compensate the surviving family for the untimely loss of a loved one.