Opinion ID: 1553988
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Whether Burley has standing as a personal representative.

Text: ¶ 12. Personal representative is defined as [a] person who manages the legal affairs of another because of incapacity or death, and when it is used by a testator, the term refers to an executor or administrator of the estate. Black's Law Dictionary 1045 (abr. 7th ed.2000). See also Hill v. James, 252 Miss. 501, 507-08, 175 So.2d 176, 179 (1965) (finding terms personal representative and legal representative to be synonymous, defined simply as executors and administrators of persons deceased). ¶ 13. These titles signify a representative capacity, as distinguished from an individual capacity, even though each representative's method of appointment may differ, administrators by law and executors by will. Sealy v. Goddard, 910 So.2d 502, 508 (Miss.2005). The authority of the chancery court to appoint an administrator exists only in cases of intestacy. However, an executor is named by the testator in the will, and he thus derives his authority from it and is charged with its execution. Ricks v. Johnson, 134 Miss. 676, 99 So. 142, 146 (1924). ¶ 14. First, we must determine if Burley's appointment as administrator of Joshua and Jakura Hill's estates was sufficient to give Burley standing to bring the wrongful-death action as a personal representative. ¶ 15. This Court's recent decision in Delta Health Group, Inc. v. Estate of Pope, 995 So.2d 123 (Miss.2008), is instructive in resolving the current question. In Pope, Ellen Pope's great-nephew, James Payne, filed a wrongful-death suit against Delta Health Group. Id. At the time Payne filed his complaint, no estate had been opened for the decedent, and thus, Payne had not been appointed as administrator. Id. at 125. ¶ 16. Approximately seven months after filing the wrongful-death complaint, Payne filed a petition for letters of administration. Id. at 124. Delta subsequently filed a motion to dismiss, or in the alternative, motion for summary judgment for lack of standing, averring that Payne lacked standing to assert claims on behalf of Pope's estate, and further that Payne did not qualify as a listed relative pursuant the wrongful-death statute, as he was merely the son of one of Ellen Pope's surviving nieces. Id. ¶ 17. Before the trial court ruled on Delta's motion, Payne filed a motion to substitute. Payne asserted he had standing to bring the action because he had been appointed administrator of Ellen Pope's estate. Id. The trial court agreed with Payne and allowed the substitution. Id. Thereafter, the trial court denied Delta's motion to dismiss, or in the alternative, motion for summary judgment, finding that James Payne had standing to file the subject lawsuit and/or properly substituted himself as the Administrator of the Estate of Ellen Pope, deceased. Id. ¶ 18. Delta filed a petition for interlocutory appeal, which this Court granted. Id. at 125. On appeal, we reversed the trial court, holding that Payne lacked standing to file the wrongful-death action. Specifically, we stated: It is undisputed that when this complaint was filed, no estate had been opened on behalf of Ellen Pope. This Court has held, It is certainly an undisputable and invariable rule of law that a right of action must be complete when an action therefor is commenced.... Crawford Commercial Constructors, Inc. v. Marine Indus. Residential Insulation, Inc., 437 So.2d 15, 16 (Miss.1983) (citations omitted). The complaint was filed on August 25, 2004, and Payne did not file his Petition for Letters of Administration until February 11, 2005. Long v. McKinney requires that, [i]n the event the litigants wish to pursue a claim on behalf of the estate of the deceased, such estate must, of course, be opened and administered through the chancery court. Long v. McKinney, 897 So.2d 160, 174 (Miss.2004). The record is clear that at the time of the filing of the complaint, no estate had been opened on behalf of Pope, thus Payne was not the administrator of a non-existent estate.... The United States Supreme Court has ruled that standing is to be determined as of the commencement of suit. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 571, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 2142, 119 L.Ed.2d 351, 371 (U.S.1992) (emphasis added). The fact that Payne subsequently was appointed as administrator does not change the undisputable fact that Payne lacked standing to commence the suit. Pope, 995 So.2d at 125-26. [6] ¶ 19. Here, as in Pope, at the time the lawsuit was initiated, Burley was not the administrator of Joshua's and Jakura's estates. The complaint was filed on June 7, 2004, at which time, no estate had been opened on behalf of Joshua or Jakura. Burley did not file his petitions for appointment of administrator and for issuance of letters of administration until June 2, 2005. He was not formally appointed as administrator of the estates of Joshua and Jakura Hill until June 23, 2005, more than one year after he commenced the wrongful-death suit. As no estate had been opened at the time the complaint was filed, Burley could not have been the administrator of nonexistent estates. Pope, 995 So.2d at 126. ¶ 20. The fact that Burley subsequently was appointed administrator of the estates of Joshua and Jakura does not change the fact that Burley lacked standing, as a personal representative, to commence the suit because standing is to be determined as of the commencement of suit. Pope, 995 So.2d at 126 (quoting Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 571, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 2142, 119 L.Ed.2d 351, 371 (1992)). ¶ 21. Since Burley was not the administrator of the estates of Joshua and Jakura Hill at the time he filed the wrongful-death action, he could not qualify as a personal representative of the children's estates based on his after-acquired status as administrator. Thus, he did not have standing, as a personal representative, to file this wrongful-death action.