NEW JERSEY’S WRONGFUL DEATH ACT
New Jersey has it’s own wrongful death statute that allows a dependent to file a lawsuit due to the negligent act of another that causes death. What is interesting about the statute, is the restrictive nature of the statute of limitations that applies to a wrongful death action. No matter what the cause, or the knowledge of the survivor concerning the cause, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of death.
There appears to be very few, if any exception to this hard and fast rule that the case must be filed within two years from the date of death. This rule however, can cause some serious injustices. For example, what if the decedent passed away from a condition that was not known to the dependent till more than two years after the death? Although this sounds like a very unlikely scenario, consider the following. What about someone who dies from an exposure to a chemical that at the time of death was unknown, but was later discovered? This has happened in the past to asbestos victims who died from medical conditions that were not known to the public as being caused by an exposure to asbestos.
I would hope that someday our Legislators consider changing the statute to include language that would allow lawsuits to be started after the two years if the survivor can prove that they were unaware of the cause of death and that the information about the cause of death was unavailable.
