Opinion ID: 1096024
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: James Lollar's Claim

Text: This case presents an issue of first impression in this Court: Whether the Alabama Wrongful Death Act, Ala.Code 1975, § 6-5-391, permits an action based on the performance of a dilatation and curettage procedure that results in the death of a nonviable fetus. Because two other cases on this Court's docket, Gentry v. Gilmore , (1910254), and Alley v. Service America Corporation, (1910447), presented similar issues, we consolidated the three cases for oral argument. Subsequently, Service America Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection and this Court has stayed all proceedings in that appeal; the parties to the Service America case appeared as amici curiae in this case, favoring the Court with oral arguments and briefs. See Gentry v. Gilmore, 613 So.2d 1241 (Ala.1993). Section 6-5-391 provides: When the death of a minor child is caused by the wrongful act, omission or negligence of any person ..., the father, or the mother..., or ... the personal representative of such minor may commence an action, and in any case shall recover such damages as the jury may assess.... It is undisputed that the disposition of this issue is controlled by the construction placed upon § 6-5-391 in Eich v. Town of Gulf Shores, 293 Ala. 95, 300 So.2d 354 (1974); Wolfe v. Isbell, 291 Ala. 327, 280 So.2d 758 (1973); and Huskey v. Smith, 289 Ala. 52, 265 So.2d 596 (1972). The parties disagree fundamentally, however, over the nature of the principle derived from this construction. Dr. Tankersley and Service America contend that the Eich-Wolfe-Huskey trilogy recognizes a cause of action for the death of a fetus that attains viability, that is, a state of such form and development of organs as to be normally capable of living outside the uterus, Wolfe, 291 Ala. at 329, 280 So.2d 758, either before the injury or before death results from the injury. The Lollars and the Alleys (the plaintiffs in the Service America case), however, contend that under these cases, viability is simply irrelevant. In Huskey, this Court recognized a cause of action for the death of a child due to injuries suffered in an automobile accident during the eighth month of his mother's pregnancy where the child was born alive but died five days thereafter. In doing so, the Court overruled Stanford v. St. Louis-San Francisco Ry., 214 Ala. 611, 108 So. 566 (1926), which had held that a prenatal injury afforded no basis for an action in damages, in favor of the child or its personal representative. 289 Ala. at 54, 265 So.2d at 596. The Court noted in Huskey that it was, at the time that case arose, the only jurisdiction in the United States denying to a parent or legal representative the right to proceed in a wrongful death action where (a) the fetal child was viable at the time of the injury and (b) the child [was] born alive. Id. (emphasis in original). One year later, this Court recognized a cause of action for the death of a child due to injuries it suffered in an automobile accident occurring prior to viability, where the fetus subsequently attained viability and was born alive but died within an hour of birth. Wolfe v. Isbell, 291 Ala. 327, 280 So.2d 758 (1973). In rejecting the contention that a post-natal child's right to maintain a cause of action turned on whether the injury was sustained in a pre-viable or post-viable state of fetal development, the Court cited a plethora of authority recognizing the rights of children to sue for prenatal injuries, Hornbuckle v. Plantation Pipe Line Co., 212 Ga. 504, 93 S.E.2d 727 (1956); Bennett v. Hymers, 101 N.H. 483, 147 A.2d 108 (1958); Smith v. Brennan, 31 N.J. 353, 157 A.2d 497 (1960); Kelly v. Gregory, 282 App.Div. 542, 125 N.Y.S.2d 696 (1953); Sinkler v. Kneale, 401 Pa. 267, 164 A.2d 93 (1960); Sylvia v. Gobeille, 101 R.I. 76, 220 A.2d 222 (1966); Puhl v. Milwaukee Auto Ins. Co., 8 Wis.2d 343, 99 N.W.2d 163 (1959); and for wrongful death of a parent, LaBlue v. Specker, 358 Mich. 558, 100 N.W.2d 445 (1960); and recognizing the inheritance rights of posthumous children. Barnett v. Pinkston, 238 Ala. 327, 191 So. 371 (1939). From the authorities cited, it is apparent that the Court's attention was directed to instances in which the fetus had attained viability. [1] Eich v. Town of Gulf Shores, 293 Ala. 95, 300 So.2d 354 (1974), like Huskey, involved a fatal post-viability injury. In Eich, the injury occurred during the ninth month of fetal development and resulted in the stillbirth of the child. The Court rejected the contention that live birth constituted an element of a cause of action. That the Court ascribed greater relevance to the element of viability, however, is apparent from the following hypothetical example in which viability was the common factor: Reconciliation of the proposition that if death occurred after live birth a cause of action exists, but if death occurs prior thereto a cause of action does not exist, is extremely difficult at best. The proposition's inconsistency is best exemplified in the situation involving the death of twins who are wrongfully injured during pregnancy. To allow recovery to the one born alive, who subsequently dies, and to deny recovery to the stillborn who was injured in the same accident is obviously ludicrous. 293 Ala. at 99, 300 So.2d at 357 (citations omitted.) Contrary to the contention that the Eich-Wolfe-Huskey trilogy abrogated the viability requirement, a close reading of these cases reveals that viability was the commonindeed, the decisiveconsideration, in each case. Huskey and Eich allowed recovery because the fetus was viable at the time of the injury, and Wolfe allowed recovery because the fetus survived the injury long enough to attain viability. The rule proceeding from these cases, therefore, essentially comports with the analysis of Dr. Tankersley and Service America, that is, that a cause of action for death resulting from a pre-natal injury requires that the fetus attain viability either before the injury or before death results from the injury. To eliminate this requirement, as the Lollars and the Alleys propose, would require a substantial expansion of the principle emanating from these cases. At the present time, it appears that no court in the United States has, without a clear legislative directive, recognized a cause of action for the wrongful death of a fetus that has never attained a state of development exceeding that attained in this case. In this connection, the Illinois legislature, in apparent response to the Illinois Supreme Court's reluctance to dispense with the viability requirement by statutory construction, amended its Wrongful Death Act to create a cause of action based on facts such as those presented here. See Smith v. Mercy Hosp. & Medical Ctr., 203 Ill.App.3d 465, 148 Ill.Dec. 567, 560 N.E.2d 1164 (1990) (discussing Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 70, par. 2.2 as amended in 1980). Courts in the remaining jurisdictions condition recovery on viability, quickening, [2] or live birth. See Comment Recovery for the Wrongful Death of a Fetus, 25 U.Rich. Law Rev. 391, 394-95 nn. 43-49 (1991). The constructions placed by the courts in our sister states upon wrongful death legislation in their respective jurisdictions counsel caution in our consideration of the question whether a fetus that has never attained viability is a minor child within the contemplation of § 6-5-391. The peculiarity in the character of damages recoverable under § 6-5-391 does not dictate that the section be held to create a cause of action that virtually would be unique to the wrongful death legislation in this country. Without a clearer expression of legislative intent, we are reluctant to hold that § 6-5-391 creates a cause of action for the wrongful death of a fetus that has never attained viability. The summary judgment in favor of Dr. Tankersley was, therefore, appropriate as to the wrongful death claim.