Article 14: Revivor and Survival of Actions · Last amended 2018 · Last verified July 22, 2026
R.S.1867, Code § 469, p. 471; R.S.1913, § 8037; C.S.1922, § 8978; C.S.1929, § 20-1416; R.S.1943, § 25-1416; Laws 2018, LB193, § 23.
Section 25-1415 lets the court strike a long-dormant action on its own finding. Section 25-1416 gives the defendant an affirmative tool to force the issue sooner when the plaintiff has died. At any term of the court following the plaintiff’s death, while the action still sits on the trial docket, the defendant may give the plaintiff’s proper representatives — the people in whose names the action might be revived — ten days’ notice that the defendant intends to apply for this relief.
After that notice, the defendant may obtain an order striking the action from the trial docket and awarding costs against the plaintiff’s estate, unless the action is revived immediately. In effect, this section puts pressure on the plaintiff’s representatives to act: either revive the case promptly after receiving notice, or risk losing it altogether along with an award of costs against the estate.
This section gives the defendant a proactive option distinct from waiting on the plaintiff’s side to move for revivor under § 25-1407, or waiting for the court to act under § 25-1415. It is limited to the death of the plaintiff specifically, and it requires the defendant to have given the ten days’ notice before applying for the strike-and-costs order.
Under § 25-1416, the defendant may give the plaintiff’s proper representatives ten days’ notice and then, at the next term while the action remains on the trial docket, obtain an order striking the action and awarding costs against the plaintiff’s estate, unless the action is forthwith revived.
Ten days’ notice to the plaintiff’s proper representatives, meaning those in whose names the action could be revived.
Yes, by reviving the action forthwith after receiving the notice.
No. Section 25-1416 is limited to the death of the plaintiff and the defendant’s options in response.
Section 25-1415 lets the court strike a stale action on its own finding, by affidavit, once revivor requires consent that has not been obtained. Section 25-1416 gives the defendant a specific, notice-based procedure to force revivor or a strike-with-costs order after the plaintiff’s death.
The statute allows an order for costs against the estate of the plaintiff as part of the relief obtained when the action is stricken for failure to revive after notice.