Opinion ID: 1863276
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Survival of the Cause of Action

Text: The defendants involved in this appeal (JCNH and Jefferson County and its Commission and Commissioners) argue that the personal-injury claims are barred because the amended complaint, seeking damages for Presley's personal injury, was not filed before Presley's death. According to § 6-5-462, Ala.Code 1975, personal-injury claims do not survive the death of a plaintiff unless an action has been filed before the plaintiff's death. Presley died on May 9, 1996; Callens filed her amended complaint on June 18, 1998. However, on April 2, 1996 (and allegedly on December 9 and 30, 1996), acting pursuant to § 6-5-20, Ala.Code 1975, Callens filed a notice of claim with the Jefferson County Commission based on her mother's December 11, 1995, injury. [3] Section 6-5-20 provides, in pertinent part: (a) An action must not be commenced against a county until the claim has been presented to the county commission, disallowed or reduced by the commission and the reduction refused by the claimant. (b) The failure or refusal of such a county commission to enter upon its minutes the disallowance or reduction of the claim for 90 days is a disallowance. The effect of this statute is that a claimant may not commence an action against a county until the claim is presented to and disallowed by the county commission. Marshall County v. Uptain, 409 So.2d 423, 425 (Ala.1981). The statutory requirement of presenting a claim to the county commission is a condition precedent to filing a lawsuit against the county. Williams v. McMillan, 352 So.2d 1347 (Ala.1977). By complying with § 6-5-20, Callens took the appropriate action to allow the personal-injury claims to survive Presley's death. In Groeschner v. County of Mobile, 512 So.2d 70 (Ala.1987), a person who had suffered injuries in an automobile accident filed a claim with the county commission pursuant to § 6-5-20. He died of unrelated causes after the expiration of the 90-day period allowed for the commission to act on the claim. Immediately after his death (which occurred some 30 days after the running of the 90-day period), an action was filed based on his personal injuries. This Court held that by complying with § 6-5-20, the injured person had taken appropriate action to meet the requirement that he first present his claim to the county commission before filing suit against the county. Id. at 72. Moreover, because he took that action, he was deemed to have satisfied the requirement of § 6-5-462, so that his personal-injury action survived his death. Id. In this case, Callens, as Presley's guardian, filed a notice of claim with the Jefferson County Commission in April 1996, more than one month before Presley died. Because Presley died before the 90-day statutory period had expired, her case is even stronger than was the plaintiff's case in Groeschner; the claims made on her behalf had not been disallowed by the Jefferson County Commission (or deemed disallowed) at the time of her death. Section 6-5-20 prevented Callens or Presley from filing a lawsuit against the county until the Commission had acted on the notice or until the expiration of the 90-day statutory period. Callens's filing a notice of claim with the Jefferson County Commission was sufficient to constitute a filing within the meaning of § 6-5-462; therefore, the personal-injury claim asserted on behalf of Presley in Callens's amended complaint survived Presley's death.