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Time limits for wrongful death suits in fatal workplace accident

On Behalf of | Oct 18, 2018 | Wrongful Death

When a person’s worst fear is realized, and for many that’s the sudden loss of a loved one, it can leave a person reeling. There are many ways in which this can happen, many of them being natural, but there are some unnatural or odd instances that can stack up in lieu of a person’s untimely death in the workplace. For construction workers, and other physical laborers, their risk of injury or death at work is higher than for those that work office jobs. If your loved one suffered a fatality at work, there is a time limit in which to bring charges of negligence.

Alleging negligence on behalf of an employer or related third-party on a job site isn’t appropriate in every situation, but for some it is absolutely necessary. The ‘discovery rule’ in wrongful death suits may be applied in wrongful death actions to determine whether the decedent knew or should have known of the cause of his illness or injury before his death, so as to start the running of the limitations period in the wrongful death action before the decedent’s death. For accidents in which a sudden injury leads to death, this isn’t as relevant.

However, for those that suffered an injury that led to a slow decline in a person’s health and their death, this is an important legal aspect to consider. If the statute of limitations, or time limit, set by Ohio has expired, all is not lost. One could petition the court to waive the statute of limitations in brining action in a wrongful death suit for a number of reasons. However, if possible, it’s best to bring suit within the state’s guidelines in a wrongful death suit.

Sometimes a person’s failure to bring a wrongful death suit immediately after a person’s death is due to the stress of mourning that person and other administrative matters that must be straightened out after a person’s death. Only after OSHA investigates a work death can details come to life that illuminate how and why a person died. The federal governing body is required to investigate any and all deaths at work. Their investigations could have evidence that are useful in wrongful death suits.