§ 9-2-40.No abatement on death of party where cause survives

Death used to end a lawsuit outright under old common-law rules — if a party died, the case died with them, no matter how strong the claim or how far along the litigation had gone. Georgia abandoned that harsh rule generations ago, and this section states the modern principle.

No action abates by the death of either party where the underlying cause of action survives to or against the deceased party’s legal representatives. If the type of claim is one the law lets survive death, as opposed to a purely personal claim that dies with the person, the lawsuit keeps going, with the deceased party’s executor or administrator stepping into the case.

The section allows for that continuation to happen in the same form of action or a different one, giving courts flexibility to adapt the procedural vehicle to a case that has to carry on after one of the original parties is gone. This is the general rule; more specific abatement provisions elsewhere in the chapter apply it to particular situations, like tort claims and codefendants who die mid-case.