<![CDATA[HADOUS|CO. PLLC - Civil Rights Blog]]>Sat, 10 Oct 2026 13:33:32 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[arizona Wrongful death ACTION vs. survival action]]>Wed, 29 Nov 2017 17:42:16 GMThttps://www.hadousco.com/civil-rights-blog/arizona-wrongful-death-action-vs-survival-action

what is the difference between a wrongful death action and a survival action in arizona?

State law typically governs both wrongful death and survival actions.  In Arizona, wrongful death actions are authorized by statute (Arizona Revised Statutes ("A.R.S.") Sections 12-611 to 12-613), and survival actions are also authorized by statute (Arizona Revised Statute Section 14-3110).

Wrongful death and survival actions are separate lawsuits arising from the wrongful death of another.

The Arizona Supreme Court has described these:
  • The [survival action] permits recovery for the wrong to the injured person and is confined to his personal loss while a [wrongful death action] is for the wrong to the beneficiaries, confined to their loss because of the death. The latter begins where the former ends and recovery on both is not a double recovery for a single wrong but rather separate recoveries for different wrongs.

There are two important differences between wrongful death and survival actions:  (1) who can file a lawsuit, and (2) the damages recoverable.

Who can file a wrongful death action in Arizona?
Certain surviving family members known as statutory beneficiaries are authorized to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Arizona. These include a surviving spouse, child, parent, guardian, or legal representative of the foregoing.   If there are no surviving beneficiaries, the estate of the deceased may file a wrongful death action.

Who can file a survival action in Arizona?

By contrast, the estate of the deceased is authorized to file a survival action.  The personal representative of the deceased’s estate typically files a survival action.

What damages are recoverable in wrongful death actions in Arizona?
In Arizona, wrongful death damages can include damages for loss of care, companionship, guidance and love, as well as consequent pain, grief, sorrow, anguish, mental suffering, shock, and stress caused by the wrongful death of a loved one.  An award of damages can vary based on the level of financial support provided by the deceased prior to death, such as financial support or household services and the dependency of the beneficiaries.

Wrongful death damages are not subject to debts or liabilities of the deceased.

What damages are recoverable in survival actions in Arizona?

In Arizona, survival action damages can include funeral and burial expenses, medical bills, the value of lost wages and benefits the deceased person would have earned from time of injury until death.  Pain and suffering by the decedent prior to death is not recoverable under state law, but could be available  for certain federal claims under certain circumstances.

Survival action damages can be subject to debts or liabilities of the deceased.

Speak to a knowledgeable wrongful death attorney.  If you have lost a loved one due to a wrongful act or neglect of another, it is important to speak with a knowledgeable attorney to learn the differences between wrongful death actions and survival actions, as well as the risks and benefits of each action. 
]]><![CDATA[prisoner healthcare - deadly delay.]]>Tue, 14 Feb 2017 18:44:26 GMThttps://www.hadousco.com/civil-rights-blog/prisoner-healthcare-deadly-delayPrisoner medical care is so abysmal the Federal government is discontinuing the use of private prisons altogether.  Unfortunately, this does not apply to state level prisons.

Prisoners are subject to inherent and sometimes deadly delays in medical care with little to no oversight over the decision to delay or altogether deny medically necessary care.  

How are prisoners denied medical care?
Failure to timely return an inmate for surgery.
Imagine you fracture a bone and the fracture is displaced.  This usually means you need corrective surgery to reset your bones to ensure proper healing.  If you are a prisoner, odds are you will be sent back to the prison and told to return in a few days when the "swelling subsides."  But you are not returned for a follow-up visit or for surgery.  You are only taken back once the bones have begun to heal, making surgery impossible without re-breaking your bones. 

Failure to monitor metastatic cancer or other rapidly progressing disease.
Imagine you are at risk for metastatic cancer.  Your doctors know your risk factors and these risks are documented on your medical records.  You are told to follow-up regularly (active surveillance or watchful waiting).  If you are a prisoner, you are required to submit a health needs request to the prison medical provider to ask to be seen by a medical specialist for your regular follow-up visits.   These requests can be approved, denied, or conveniently "misplaced."  Worse yet, approved requests can be delayed, "misplaced," or simply left unscheduled requiring you to start the approval process all over.  When time is of the essence for you or your loved one, delay, incompetence, or plain disregard can have deadly consequences.   

Failure to refer an inmate for surgery or other medical treatment.
If you are a prisoner who needs surgery or other specialized medical care, you will need approval from the prison medical provider.  Sometimes, we presume, the medical provider will approve your surgery.  Other times, you can be delayed or altogether denied medically necessary surgery for non-medical reasons such as cost, date of onset of a condition, or length of incarceration.  Why is your length of incarceration important?  If you are being released soon, the medical provider may simply delay medical treatment until you are released so that it does not have to pay for the medical treatment.  

Why don't more lawyers get involved?  The Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA").
Prisoner rights are civil rights.  Civil rights violations give rise to damages, including attorneys' fees.  This is a significant deterrent to anyone that would abuse a position of authority to deprive another of his or her civil rights.  Unfortunately, the Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA") diminishes this deterrent by "capping" an award of attorneys' fees to a prisoner's overall recovery.  This means that unless there is the potential to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, prisoners will be left to navigate state and federal courts on their own.  This is not just bad news for prisoners, who lose access to competent legal counsel.  

Courts are left to "screen" prisoner civil rights cases (most of which are handwritten or scarcely legible) and to effectively "babysit" prisoner civil rights actions.  This hardly promotes a just, speedy or inexpensive determination of civil rights actions. 

The PLRA doesn't just hurt prisoners and their families.  With little to no opposition from competent lawyers (or any lawyer in most cases), governments and private contractors have little trouble dispensing prisoner civil rights lawsuits behind their armies of lawyers.  Private contractors who violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment" en masse are rewarded with new or renewed contracts.  Meanwhile, courts are left to make "sense" of deliberate indifference to serious medical needs with rulings that erode our Constitutional protections.

Should you even care about prisoners?
Most people do not, until they become one or know someone who becomes one.  Violent crime has plummeted over the past 25 years but the incarceration rate has skyrocketed.  Like any other private enterprise, the prison industrial complex has organized powerful lobbies that influence elected officials at the state and federal level at the taxpayer's expense. These lobbies sell harsher punishments and sentencing laws to the public under the guise of "public safety."  But this is hardly the case.  For decades, the incarceration rate for non-violent offenders has far outpaced violent offenders. Today, a majority of prisoners serve time for non-violent offenses.  In Pennsylvania, two judges were sentenced to prison after investigators revealed they accepted money for sentencing children to juvenile detention centers in a "Kids for Cash" scandal.   Does this sound like public safety?

What we can do.
Raise awareness.  Get involved with the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU National Prison Project (visit the ACLU National Prison Project by clicking here).  A prison sentence should not mean a death sentence.   ]]><![CDATA[Detroit Police Lawsuit]]>Mon, 28 Nov 2016 16:46:02 GMThttps://www.hadousco.com/civil-rights-blog/detroit-police-lawsuitRead about our recently filed civil rights action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in the USA Today and the Detroit Free Press.

​]]><![CDATA[privatization of prisoner MEDICAL CARE: recipe for disaster]]>Fri, 07 Oct 2016 01:01:10 GMThttps://www.hadousco.com/civil-rights-blog/privatization-of-prisoner-medical-care-recipe-for-disaster​Society's least favorite citizens are now becoming victims as for-profit prison healthcare providers reap hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds while cutting care to the prisoner population. The trend, known as privatization, essentially vests unchecked power in private healthcare providers who deliver little to no effective healthcare to inmates, many of whom suffer chronic illness, disease and sickness.

In Arizona, a recent class action in the matter of Parsons v. Ryan resulted in a multi-million dollar settlement (mostly attorneys' fees) stemming from prisoner health conditions under the Arizona Department of Corrections, Wexford Health Sources, Inc. and Corizon Health, Inc. During an inspection by Robert Cohen, M.D. Dr. Cohen remarked healthcare within the ADC was amongst the worst he had ever seen and that, "[T]here were multiple cases in which the lapses were so shocking and dangerous that I felt ethically obligated as a medical professional to bring them to the immediate attention of the ADC and Corizon staff."

Unfortunately, it does not appear that privatization will result in effective healthcare anytime soon. Private healthcare providers are routinely shuffled in and out of state department of corrections systems and are largely insulated from civil actions due in part to unfavorable Federal court rulings and the enactment of the Prison Litigation Reform Act which caps attorneys' fees dissuading many attorneys from becoming involved. The horrific conditions in prisons throughout the country are leading to growing awareness. Companies like Wexford Health Sources, Inc. and Corizon Health, Inc., though largely unknown to the vast majority of citizens, are slowly being exposed. Taxpayers can and should demand accountability for how their tax dollars are being spent]]>