Opinion ID: 2632251
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Wrongful Death Versus Survival Action

Text: Robinson queries whether the two-year condition precedent for wrongful death actions or the four-year limitation for survival actions applies in this situation. The survival statute provides: § 1-4-101. Causes of action that survive. In addition to the causes of action which survive at common law, causes of action for mesne profits, injuries to the person, an injury to real or personal estate, or any deceit or fraud also survive. An action may be brought notwithstanding the death of the person entitled or liable to the same, but in actions for personal injury damages, if the person entitled thereto dies recovery is limited to damages for wrongful death. Section 1-4-101. The wrongful death statutes provide in pertinent part: § 1-38-101. Actions for wrongful death which survive; proceedings against executor or administrator of person liable. Whenever the death of a person is caused by wrongful act, neglect or default such as would have entitled the party injured to maintain an action to recover damages if death had not ensued, the person who would have been liable if death had not ensued is liable in an action for damages, even though the death was caused under circumstances as amount in law to murder in the first or second degree or manslaughter. If the person liable dies, the action may be brought against the executor or administrator of his estate. If he left no estate within the state of Wyoming, the court may appoint an administrator upon application. Section 1-38-101. § 1-38-102. Action to be brought by personal representative; recovery exempt from debts; measure and element of damages; limitation period. .... (d) Every such action shall be commenced within two (2) years after the death of the deceased person. Section 1-38-102(d). Robinson claims that, under Wyoming law, her suit can proceed under the survival statute and that her suit was filed within the statute's limitation as extended by the discovery rule. She maintains that, under this Court's decision in Parsons v. Roussalis, 488 P.2d 1050, 1052 (Wyo.1971), her case can be brought under either the wrongful death statutes or the survival statute but that the damages recoverable are limited to those which are allowed under the wrongful death statutes. The appellees cite DeHerrera v. Herrera, 565 P.2d 479 (Wyo.1977), for their argument that a personal injury which subsequently results in death can be maintained only as a wrongful death action and that, under the wrongful death statutes, Robinson's claim is barred by the two-year condition precedent. We acknowledge that our decision in Parsons states: Where a decedent's death is due to wrongful injuries, suit is permitted under either § 1-28 [now § 1-4-101] or §§ 1-1065 and 1-1066 [now §§ 1-38-101 and 1-38-102]; but recovery is limited to that stemming from wrongful deathpain and suffering of the decedent, according to the words of the statute, having no part in establishing damages. 488 P.2d at 1052. We subsequently interpreted the survival statute, however, in DeHerrera, 565 P.2d at 481-82. Relying on a Kansas case, even though it had been subsequently reversed, we held that, when a person dies as a result of injuries inflicted by another, the cause of action is limited to one for wrongful death: However, in Prowant v. Kings-X, Inc., 1959, 184 Kan. 413, 337 P.2d 1021, the court held that where a person is injured by another, if he dies from other causes, an action for personal injury survives but if death results from the same injuries, the action may not be maintained by the personal representative for the estate but may be brought under its wrongful death act for the next of kin. Thus, was reached the same result we visualize exists in Wyoming by virtue of § 1-28 [now § 1-4-101], as interpreted by Parsons, [488 P.2d 1050 (Wyo.1971),] along with our own holding here. The personal injury survival statute in Kansas had no such proviso as in § 1-28 [now § 1-4-101] but the court, by judicial interpretation, construed its wrongful death act to be the exclusive remedy if death ensued as a result of the negligence and the survival statute to apply if there was no death caused by the other. The court did there, by judicial fiat, what the Wyoming legislature has done by statute. The Kansas court later, on rehearing, though, in Prowant v. Kings-X, Inc., 1959, 185 Kan. 602, 347 P.2d 254, reversed itself and concluded that the survival statute means what it says and allows a recovery on behalf of the estate for its losses, separate and apart from the wrongful death act. DeHerrera, 565 P.2d at 483. We remain convinced that this is the correct interpretation of Wyoming's unique survival statute. Accordingly, because Robinson alleges that her husband's death resulted from injuries inflicted by the appellees, her claim is limited to a wrongful death cause of action. Given this result, we turn our attention to the question of whether Robinson's claim was filed within the required time limitation set forth in the wrongful death statutes. This Court addressed this issue in Corkill, wherein we held that the two-year limitation contained within § 1-38-102(d) creates a condition precedent rather than a statute of limitation and that the statute's language does not lend itself to the application of the discovery rule. 955 P.2d at 442. In the case at bar, Robinson's husband's death occurred in November of 1987, and the two-year condition precedent began to run on that date. Robinson did not bring a claim against the appellees until ten years later; consequently, her claim is untimely. The district court, therefore, properly granted the appellees' motions to dismiss. Affirmed.