Case Name: FRYOVER v. FORBES
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1989-03-20
Citations: 176 Mich. App. 36
Docket Number: Docket No. 102270
Parties: FRYOVER v FORBES
Judges: Before: Weaver, P.J., and Gillis and M. J. Talbot, JJ.
Reporter: Michigan appeals reports; cases decided in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Volume: 176
Pages: 36–39

Head Matter:
FRYOVER v FORBES
Docket No. 102270.
Submitted July 14, 1988, at Grand Rapids.
Decided March 20, 1989.
Leave to appeal applied for.
Penny K. Fryover was sixteen weeks pregnant when she died in an automobile accident. Steven Fryover, individually and as personal representative of the estates of Penny K. Fryover and her fetus, brought a wrongful death action in Kent Circuit Court against Steven Forbes and Daryl Forbes, individually and doing business as Forbes Airview Farms. Defendants moved for summary disposition as to the claim relating to the fetus, contending that an action under the wrongful death act cannot be maintained on behalf of a nonviable fetus. The court, Robert A. Benson, J., granted defendants’ motion. Plaintiff appealed.
The Court of Appeals held:
As explained in the dissenting opinion of Judge Maher in Toth v Goree, 65 Mich App 296 (1975), lv den 396 Mich 836 (1976), a nonviable fetus can be considered a "person” under the wrongful death act.
Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
Weaver, P.J., dissented and would hold that the determination of whether a cause of action under the wrongful death act should be extended to a nonviable fetus not born alive must be made by the Legislature, which, in enacting the wrongful death act and subsequent amendments thereto, has not defined the term "person” to include a nonviable fetus not born alive. Judge Weaver would affirm.
Death — Wrongful Death Actions — Nonviable Fetuses.
An action under the wrongful death act can be maintained on behalf of a sixteen-week-old fetus not born alive (MCL 600.2922; MSA 27A.2922).
References
Am Jur 2d, Death §§ 5, 183, 235.
Right to maintain action or to recover damages for death of unborn child. 84 ALR3d 411.
Tolley, Fisher & Verwys, P.C. (by Mark H. Verwys and Linda Glaza-Herrington), for plaintiff.
Cholette, Perkins & Buchanan (by Robert J. Riley), for defendants.
Before: Weaver, P.J., and Gillis and M. J. Talbot, JJ.
Recorder’s Court judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.

Opinion:
Gillis, J.
Penny Fryover was sixteen weeks pregnant with Karl James Fryover when both were killed because she swerved her vehicle in an attempt to avoid hitting a dog owned by defendants. Plaintiff brought wrongful death suits on behalf of both Penny and Karl. Defendants moved for summary disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(8) and (10) as to plaintiffs wrongful death suit regarding Karl, claiming that a nonviable fetus is not a person under the wrongful death act. The trial court granted defendants' motion relying on this Court's decision in Toth v Goree, 65 Mich App 296; 237 NW2d 297 (1975), lv den 396 Mich 836 (1976). We agree with Judge Maher's dissent in Toth and, therefore, reverse the trial court's decision. See also Presley v Newport Hospital, 117 RI 177; 365 A2d 748 (1976).
Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
M.J. Talbot, J., concurred.