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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Posts
    1

    Default Suing Somebody Who Dies Before a Complaint is Filed

    My question involves civil rights in the State of: New York or Connecticut.

    Section 1983 conspiracy action filed pro se in NYS fed court. Evidently 1 week prior to filing, one of the Defs died. He was a Conn. resident and died in Conn. He was not named in the original Complaint, but after thinking it over, we added him in the first amended complaint. We are still awaiting service records from Marshalls, but the N.Y. federal court lawyer for 3 defendants -- one of whom is dead -- sent us death certificate. He wants us to take dead Def off the list.

    We checked Conn agencies in person last week and found no probate or other legal record of estate, but we did get a real death certificate to make sure this was true.

    Question: Which law applies when Def who is resident of Conn. dies in Conn. before complaint is filed in federal court for acts committed in New York?

    Conn. says you can't sue a dead person. But their N.Y. federal court lawyer filed Notice of Appearance as his attorney of record for some other defendants (dead guy's family) AND the dead guy. I can't find the applicable N.Y. law. And if it's different -- I suspect it is -- which law applies?

    This is a federal civil rights case, not a diversity suit. Thank you.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    OH10
    Posts
    17,019

    Default Re: Conn. Defendant Died Before Complaint Filed in New York Federal Court (Sec. 1983)

    You cannot sue a dead person, for 2 reasons. 1. Because they cannot be legally served. and 2. They have a right to face their accuser and defend themselves. A corpse, embalmed or not, is incapable of doing so.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Suing Somebody Who Dies Before a Complaint is Filed

    The fact that interested parties have appeared to object to your attempting to sue somebody who is deceased, assuming that's what you're attempting to describe, does not mean that you can sustain a lawsuit against a person who is deceased. Talk to your lawyer about whether it makes sense to try to assert a claim against the decedent's estate.

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