In general, a wrongful death lawsuit must be brought within two years of the date of the victim’s death. But if the wrongful death was the result of an intentional criminal act–i.e., murder or manslaughter–than Florida law waives the statute of limitations altogether. In certain other cases, the statute of limitations may be temporarily stopped or “tolled” if the plaintiffs did not know about–or could not have reasonably discovered–the negligent act right away. This often comes up in wrongful death claims arising from medical malpractice, as a physician’s mistake may not be discovered for several months or years after the victim’s death.
There are some exceptions to the statute of limitations that may impact the amount of time you have to file a wrongful death claim.
Medical malpractice: When a death is due to medical negligence, the statute of limitations is two years from the date the injury was discovered, or should have been discovered. Even with this stipulation, the law states that no medical malpractice action can be filed four years after the date of the accident. This means that in some wrongful death cases, there is an argument that the four-year statute of limitations applies, and not the two-year time limit.
Government entities: Government agencies can sometimes be to blame for a wrongful death and when this is the case, the statute of limitations can be extended to four years. Still, there may be other deadlines in your case that are much shorter, so you should always speak to an attorney.
Death of the defendant: There are times when the defendant passes away before a claim is finalized. For example, two people may be involved in a car accident and they both pass away from their injuries. In these cases, you have 90 days to file a motion with the court to ask a judge to allow the personal representative of the defendant to represent the deceased.