Families often expect to have decades together. Parents expect to see their children grow into adults, while children expect their parents to be there when they finish high school and eventually get married. Spouses plan to grow old together and enjoy their retirements jointly.
Tragically, not everyone has a long life or even reaches the average age of life expectancy given their personal characteristics. Car crashes, defective products, acts of violence and even unsafe property conditions can lead to premature mortality. People can die decades before anyone expected them to pass.
Their loved ones may then struggle with both grief and financial hardship. They may hope to take legal action. North Carolina allows grieving families the option of pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit. However, grieving families need to act quickly or they may risk becoming unable to take the matter to civil court.
The state limits civil litigation
There are numerous restrictions imposed on personal injury lawsuits, including wrongful death lawsuits. Those restrictions include rules about who can file and what circumstances qualify for litigation. There needs to be evidence of qualifying circumstances, such as negligence or illegal activity.
The state also imposes a statute of limitations. In most scenarios, families have to initiate a wrongful death lawsuit within two years of an individual’s death. If they wait too long to file the lawsuit, then they may lose the opportunity to hold the business or individual at fault for their tragedy legally and financially accountable.
Most of the time, it is best to err on the side of caution by filing early rather than waiting until the 11th hour. There are occasionally exceptions to the statute of limitations in scenarios where new evidence suddenly comes to light. If families only recently learned that a business or person is directly to blame for their tragic loss, they might be able to take action within two years of the discovery of that new information.
Learning more about North Carolina’s wrongful death statutes can help grieving families pursue justice and closure after a tragedy. People affected by an unexpected, premature passing often need to quickly take action to hold others accountable for misconduct or negligent behavior.