Opinion ID: 1670701
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: post -shiver cases

Text: In Variety Children's Hospital v. Perkins, 445 So.2d 1010 (Fla.1983), we held that a father's wrongful death action on behalf of his deceased minor son was barred because his son had recovered a judgment for personal injuries flowing from the same tortious act underlying the wrongful death action. In the prior personal injury action the decedent recovered damages for his injuries and his parents recovered damages for past and future medical expenses. Accordingly, the defendant argued, inter alia, that the father's cause of action had already been satisfied. The trial court agreed, dismissing the action, and the Third District reversed, reasoning that the right to recover for wrongful death is separate and independent from, rather than derivative of, the injured person's right while living to recover for personal injuries. Id. at 1011. We quashed the district court's decision, hold[ing] that the judgment for personal injuries rendered in favor of the injured party while living barred the subsequent wrongful death action based on the same tortious conduct. Id. This Court explained that at his death, the decedent had no right of action against the tortfeasor because his cause of action had already been satisfied; therefore, no cause of action for wrongful death survived the decedent: At the moment of his death the injured minor Anthony Perkins had no right of action against the tortfeasor because his cause of action had already been litigated, proved and satisfied. The recovery awarded by the judgment in the previous personal injury action included damages arising from future expenses. Since there was no right of action existing at the time of death, under the statute no wrongful death cause of action survived the decedent. Id. at 1012 (emphasis added). [11] Next, in Ash v. Stella, 457 So.2d 1377 (Fla.1984), we addressed whether the statute of limitations pertinent to medical malpractice actions was applicable to an action for wrongful death where the tort underlying the wrongful death action involved a claim of medical malpractice. Although we framed the issue as whether a survivor can bring a wrongful death action in cases where if the decedent had survived, the decedent would have been precluded from filing suit because of the statute of limitations, id. at 1378-79, this Court did not reach that question. Instead this Court held that, by its very language, the medical malpractice statute of limitations applied to actions for wrongful death. Id. at 1379. [12] The question that went unanswered in Ash was answered in Hudson v. Keene Corp., 445 So.2d 1151 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), approved, 472 So.2d 1142 (Fla.1985). In Hudson the First District affirmed the summary judgment entered in favor of the defendant, holding that since the statute of limitations applicable to the decedent's personal injury action had expired at the time of his death, the wrongful death action based on the same tortious conduct (although filed within the limitations period applicable to wrongful death actions) was likewise barred: [T]he circuit judge in the present case properly granted appellees' motion for summary judgment, because under the supreme court interpretation of the statutory language [of the Wrongful Death Act] in Perkins, Ela Hudson would not have been able to maintain an action against appellees if death had not ensued due to the running of the limitations period with regard to the personal injury suit. Hudson, 445 So.2d at 1153. In Nissan Motor Co. v. Phlieger, 508 So.2d 713 (Fla.1987), we held that the products liability statute of repose was inapplicable to bar an action for wrongful death based on products liability. The plaintiff filed a wrongful death action within two years of her husband's death. However, Nissan argued that the action was barred because it was filed more than twelve years after the purchase of the vehicle. The trial court granted Nissan's motion for summary judgment, but the district court reversed, holding the products liability statute of repose inapplicable by its very language to wrongful death actions. Nissan argued to the contrary on the strength of this Court's decisions in Ash and Perkins, but this Court rejected those arguments: Florida's Wrongful Death Act does create a right of action in favor of statutory beneficiaries which was not recognized at common law. However, this Court has consistently held that the act also creates a new and independent cause of action in the statutorily designated beneficiaries. Neither Ash nor Perkins should be read to have held to the contrary. Nissan, 508 So.2d at 714 (citations omitted). Importantly, we distinguished our decision in Perkins by noting that unlike the decedent there, Phlieger had a right to maintain an action against Nissan at the time of his death because the twelve-year statute of repose had not yet expired at that time: In Perkins we held ... that a wrongful death action is barred where the decedent, during his lifetime, had filed a personal injury action against the tortfeasor and had fully recovered. Our holding was based on the fact that  [a]t the moment of his death [the injured party] had no right of action against the tortfeasor because his cause of action had already been litigated, proved and satisfied.... Since there was no right of action existing at the time of death, under the statute no wrongful death action survived the decedent. As noted by the district court below, at the moment of Jay Phlieger's death, the twelve years had not yet run. Therefore, unlike the decedent in Perkins, Mr. Phlieger had a right to maintain an action against Nissan at the time of his death; and thus, Mrs. Phlieger, acting as his personal representative, had a statutory right to bring an action based on injuries suffered by Mr. Phlieger's survivors as a result of his death. Id. at 715 (citation omitted). Most recently, in Safecare Health Corp. v. Rimer, 620 So.2d 161 (Fla.1993), we addressed the question of whether an action for wrongful death against a joint tortfeasor is barred by a prior settlement of the decedent's claim for personal injuries against the other tortfeasor and whether the tortfeasor that was not a party to the settlement is entitled to a damage setoff. We answered both questions in the negative, distinguishing our decision in Perkins in the process by emphasizing that the decedent's claim against Safecare had not been resolved at her death: Unlike [ Perkins ], the instant case involves two joint-tortfeasors charged with independent acts of negligence, and only one of the tortfeasors reached a settlement with the injured party before death. As the district court noted, Loeb's death extinguished her personal injury action; however, because she had not resolved her claim against Safecare, Loeb's survivors are entitled to bring a wrongful death action. ... In the instant case, the deceased had a viable claim against Safecare that had not been resolved at the time of her death; therefore, Rimer is not barred from bringing a wrongful death action. Id. at 163-64 (emphasis added). As is apparent from our discussion in Perkins, Ash, Hudson, Phlieger, and Safecare, we have predicated the wrongful death right of action upon whether the decedent maintained a right of action at his or her death. Accordingly, we consider whether the decedent enjoyed a right of action at her death in the instant case. In Raydel, Ltd. v. Medcalfe, 178 So.2d 569 (Fla.1965), this Court held that an owner of a vehicle is not liable to a cobailee for injuries sustained by that bailee because of the bailee's own negligent operation of the vehicle. The plaintiff in Raydel, Mrs. Medcalfe, was injured when her husband negligently drove a vehicle in which she was the passenger. The Medcalfes' employer had loaned the vehicle in question to them. Accordingly, Mrs. Medcalfe sought damages against her employer for the injuries she sustained in the accident under the dangerous instrumentality doctrine. We rejected that claim, explaining: [W]e do not believe the dangerous instrumentality doctrine applies where an automobile is entrusted to a husband and wife jointly and while it is in their personal use and under their dominion and control it is negligently operated by one of them, injuring one or both of them. Under such circumstances recovery for such injuries can not be had by either or both of them from the owner of the automobile. Id. at 572. Although Raydel did not involve an action for wrongful death, Raydel makes clear that a co-bailee has no right of action against the owner of a vehicle because that status prevents the imputation of their negligence to the owner under the dangerous instrumentality doctrine: She and her husband were co-bailees or joint adventurers, having been entrusted jointly with the possession of the automobile for their personal use. In such status they cannot impute the negligent operation of the automobile by either of them to the Petitioners and recover damages for injuries to either of them arising therefrom. Id. The Fifth District in the instant case concluded that as the decedent had no right of action against Alamo as a co-bailee of the rental vehicle, no wrongful death cause of action arose in the survivors: We do not believe that an individual's status as a co-bailee of a dangerous instrumentality is a mere disability to sue, but rather, [it] prevents the cause of action from wholly existing in such a circumstance. The dangerous instrumentality doctrine, in short, was never intended to apply to the bailee of that instrumentality during the operation of the bailment. The co-bailee cannot impute the negligence of the other cobailee/driver to Alamo. We hold that because no right of action existed at the time of Julia Studdard's [sic] death, no wrongful death cause of action survived the decedent. Toombs, 762 So.2d at 1042 (emphasis added). We agree. Absent the ability to impute Ian Stuttard's negligence to Alamo, no right of action originated in the decedent to which a wrongful death cause of action could attach.