Can You File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Georgia After a Criminal Death?
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A criminal act that kills someone leads many families to assume the criminal case is the only path to justice. But a civil wrongful death claim is separate from the criminal prosecution, and it can sometimes reach beyond the person who committed the crime. This guide explains the civil claim after a criminal death, how criminal prosecution affects the deadline, who can be liable beyond the perpetrator, and the interaction between the two cases.
A Civil Claim After a Criminal Death
A death caused by a crime can give rise to a civil wrongful death claim, entirely apart from any criminal case. The two systems serve different purposes. The criminal case, brought by the state, seeks to punish the wrongdoer; the civil wrongful death claim, brought by the family, seeks compensation for the full value of the life lost. Georgia’s wrongful death statute defines the deaths it covers broadly, including deaths resulting from a crime, so a criminal killing falls squarely within it.
Importantly, a civil claim does not depend on a criminal conviction. The family can pursue the wrongful death claim regardless of whether the perpetrator is charged, convicted, or acquitted, because the civil case uses a different standard of proof and is decided separately. So even where a criminal case results in no conviction, a civil wrongful death claim may still succeed.
How Criminal Prosecution Affects the Deadline
Georgia has a tolling statute, O.C.G.A. § 9-3-99, that can pause the limitations clock for a tort claim brought by the victim of a crime while the criminal prosecution is pending, up to a cap of six years. In ordinary personal injury cases arising from criminal conduct, including traffic offenses treated as crimes, this tolling can extend the time to sue.
How this statute applies to wrongful death claims, however, is not straightforward, and Georgia courts have reached differing conclusions. Some authority has applied the tolling to wrongful death claims arising from criminal conduct, while other appellate authority has held that the tolling does not extend to a survivor’s wrongful death claim, reasoning that the statute protects the “victim” of the crime, interpreted as the deceased person, rather than the surviving family members who bring the wrongful death action. Because of this uncertainty, the safest course is not to rely on tolling to extend a wrongful death deadline. The separate estate claim has its own timing rules, including a potential tolling period of up to five years while no estate representative has been appointed under a different statute. Given these complexities, the deadlines in a criminal-death case should be evaluated carefully and early rather than assumed.
Who Can Be Liable Beyond the Perpetrator
One of the most important features of a civil claim is that it can sometimes reach parties beyond the person who committed the crime. While the perpetrator is the most obvious defendant, a perpetrator is often without the means to pay a judgment, and may be imprisoned. The civil system allows the family to pursue others whose negligence helped enable the death.
A common example is a property owner or business whose failure to provide reasonable security allowed a foreseeable crime to occur, a negligent security theory addressed in the related post on premises liability for crimes. Other examples can include an entity that negligently allowed a dangerous person access to a place or to a weapon, or a business that contributed to the circumstances of the death through its own negligence. These third parties are pursued not for committing the crime, but for their own negligence in failing to prevent a foreseeable harm. Because these defendants are more likely to have insurance or assets, third-party liability is often where a civil wrongful death claim provides a meaningful recovery.
Interaction With the Criminal Case
The civil and criminal cases proceed on separate tracks but can influence one another. The criminal investigation and prosecution often develop evidence, police reports, witness statements, forensic findings, that can be valuable in the civil case. A criminal conviction can also be powerful evidence supporting civil liability against the perpetrator.
At the same time, the timing of the two cases can interact. Prosecutors control the criminal case, and its progress is independent of the family’s civil claim. Families sometimes face the question of whether to wait for the criminal case to resolve before pursuing the civil claim, which raises the deadline issues discussed above and is why the timing should be assessed carefully given the uncertainty around tolling. The key point is that the existence of a criminal case neither replaces nor automatically extends the civil wrongful death claim; they are distinct, and the civil claim has its own requirements and deadlines that must be managed on their own terms.
Key Takeaways
- A death caused by a crime can support a civil wrongful death claim that is separate from the criminal case and does not require a conviction.
- Georgia’s criminal-prosecution tolling statute (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-99) applies to victims’ tort claims, but courts have reached differing conclusions about whether it extends to wrongful death claims, so deadlines should not be assumed to be tolled.
- A civil claim can sometimes reach third parties beyond the perpetrator, such as a property owner whose negligent security enabled a foreseeable crime.
- The criminal and civil cases run on separate tracks; criminal evidence and convictions can aid the civil case, but the criminal case does not replace or automatically extend it.
This article provides general information about Georgia law and is not legal advice. Statutes and court decisions change, and how the law applies depends on the specific facts of a situation. For advice about a particular matter, consult a licensed Georgia attorney.