Opinion ID: 1854908
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Constitutionality of the New Wrongful Death Act; Pain and Suffering Damages

Text: The title of the new Wrongful Death Act, Chapter 72-35, Laws of Florida 1972, is as follows:  An Act relating to wrongful death action; amending chapter 768, Florida Statutes, by adding sections 768.16, ... 768.20, 768.21 ...; providing for a right of action on behalf of the survivors and the estate by the personal representative of a decedent whose death is caused by the wrongful act, negligence, default, or breach of contract or warranty of any person; repealing sections 768.01, 768.02, and 768.03, Florida Statutes; providing an effective date. It is contended that (1) the legislature was misled by lack of notice in the title that damages resulting from the decedent's pain and suffering were being abolished in the body of the Act, and (2) the legislature cannot eliminate an established right without providing a suitable alternative. The first of these contentions turns ultimately upon our interpretation of that portion of Section 768.20 relating to the abatement of actions for personal injuries resulting in death. This is a crucial subissue which we must resolve before considering the sufficiency of the title of the Act. Section 768.20 establishes the parties who may bring the action, provides that personal injury actions do not survive, and retains the defenses that may be asserted to bar or reduce the recovery. It provides in full as follows:  Parties.  The action shall be brought by the decedent's personal representative, who shall recover for the benefit of the decedent's survivors and estate all damages, as specified in this act, caused by the injury resulting in death. When a personal injury to the decedent results in his death, no action for the personal injury shall survive, and any such action pending at the time of death shall abate. The wrongdoer's personal representative shall be the defendant if the wrongdoer dies before or pending the action. A defense that would bar or reduce a survivor's recovery if he were the plaintiff may be asserted against him, but shall not affect the recovery of any other survivor. [Emphasis supplied] The italicized sentence, which abates an action for the personal injury, effectively provides that no separate statutory action for personal injuries resulting in death can survive the decedent's demise. [18] But it would be wrong to regard these words as a blanket abolition of survival actions for personal injuries resulting in death. From the immediately preceding sentence, it is clear that the essence of the survival action, specifically tortfeasor answerability in damages to the decedent's estate for injury resulting in death, will remain unimpaired by the new legislation. The primary difference is the merger of the actions and the transfer of pain and suffering damage from the decedent to the survivors. The only logical construction of the italicized sentence is that it expresses the legislative intent that a separate lawsuit for death-resulting personal injuries cannot be brought as a survival action under Section 46.021. The action can be brought, in a consolidated form, under the new Wrongful Death Act. The purpose of the italicized sentence is to implement the consolidation. It, together with the preceding sentence and the rest of the Act, conveys an unmistakable legislative intent to incorporate into the new Wrongful Death Act the survival action formerly maintainable under Section 46.021, but modified to substitute a survivor's pain and suffering for a decedent's pain and suffering as an element of damages. Whether the title of the new Act provides sufficient notice of these changes is the next issue we must resolve. There is no question that the title could have been more explicitly drawn to include a reference by section number to the survival action statute, Section 46.021, Florida Statutes, under which damages for a decedent's pain and suffering were recoverable. It is argued that the failure to state specifically in the title that Section 46.021 was amended, particularly in view of reference to the amendment of Chapter 768 and the repeal of other specifically enumerated statutes, renders the title constitutionally defective. Article III, Section 6, Florida Constitution. Upon first impression, this argument appears to have merit. See, e.g., Williams v. Dormany, 99 Fla. 496, 126 So. 117 (1930); State v. Florida State Turnpike Authority, 80 So.2d 337 (Fla. 1955). However, the trial court found in the Martin case now before this Court, and we concur, that the title does contain a general description of matters germane both to Sections 46.021, the survival act, and to Sections 768.16-768.27, the Wrongful Death Act. See Shepard v. Thames, 251 So.2d 265 (Fla. 1971); Stokes v. Galloway, 61 Fla. 437, 54 So. 799 (1911). More specifically, the following words are germane to the subject of both acts: providing for a right of action on behalf of the survivors and the estate by the personal representative of a decedent whose death is caused by the wrongful act, negligence, default, or breach of contract or warranty of any person. It is our opinion that this clause provides sufficient notice of the intent to consolidate survival and wrongful death claims into one action, Smith v. City of St. Petersburg, 302 So.2d 756 (Fla. 1974), and that it leads one reasonably to inquire into the body of the Act. State ex rel. Buford v. Daniel, 87 Fla. 270, 99 So. 804 (1924). If we construed the title to be defective and allowed a separate survival action for the pain and suffering of a decedent, the result would be to permit claims both for pain and suffering of the decedent under the survival act and for pain and suffering of the appropriate survivors under the new Wrongful Death Act. This result would allow multiple actions and multiple claims for pain and suffering contrary to the clear intention of the legislature. Either the new Act is effective to consolidate the actions and transfer pain and suffering claims from the decedent to the survivors, or the new item of pain and suffering damage for the survivors cannot be allowed. The former is correct and is in accordance with our holding. Concerning the second contention, we believe that the new right of surviving close relatives to recover for their own pain and suffering brought about by the wrongful death of a decedent is a reasonable alternative to dividing among the survivors the amount formerly recoverable under Section 46.021, Florida Statutes, for the decedent's pain and suffering, if any. The new item of damage is much more susceptible of proof, since the party claiming damage for the pain and suffering is available to testify, while the claim formerly permitted under Section 46.021 for the decedent's pain and suffering had to be based upon testimony of others.