Opinion ID: 1192591
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Wrongful-Death Action

Text: The surviving spouse  qua personal representative of the decedent's next of kin and of his estate  brought an action to recover for personal injuries and wrongful death of the decedent, Gerard Dwayne Ouellette. He died in a car/motorcycle accident on May 5, 1988 from injuries occasioned by a negligent underinsured motorist. [2] His widow joined as defendants in the case both the tortfeasor and his motorcycle's UM carrier. She claimed damages in excess of the tortfeasor's own $10,000 liability insurance limit and of the $20,000 limit upon the motorcycle's UM coverage. After a jury-waived trial, the nisi prius court entered a $30,000 judgment for the plaintiff. The judgment is now released as satisfied by both the tortfeasor and the decedent's UM carrier. In a postjudgment proceeding [3] the trial court (1) allowed $10,000 of the recovery to the decedent's surviving spouse and $10,000 to each of his two minor children and (2) for lack of legal interest denied the parents any distributive share in the widow's wrongful-death recovery. [4]