Opinion ID: 1774157
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Heading: Definition of Claimant

Text: Section 9-8-307(e) of the Tennessee Code Annotated provides that [f]or causes of action arising in tort, the State shall only be liable for damages up to the sum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) per claimant and one million dollars ($1,000,000) per occurrence. (Supp.2000). The meaning of the term claimant as found in this section is dispositive of whether the Kis may recover more than $300,000. The cause of action in this case arises from the wrongful death of Jong-Do Ki. Accordingly, we must determine the meaning of the term claimant as used in Tenn.Code Ann. § 9-8-307(e) in context with the relevant wrongful death statutes, Tenn.Code Ann. § 20-5-106 and Tenn.Code Ann. § 20-5-113. When construing statutes, we are required to ascertain and effectuate the legislative intent and purpose of the statutes. State v. Walls, 62 S.W.3d 119 (Tenn.2001). We should assume that the legislature used each word in the statute purposely and that the use of [each] word[] conveyed some intent. State v. Levandowski, 955 S.W.2d 603, 604 (Tenn.1997). Further, courts must presume that the legislature is aware of prior enactments and of the decisions of the courts when enacting legislation. Id. Legislative intent must be derived from the plain and ordinary meaning of the statutory language if the statute is devoid of ambiguity. Mooney v. Sneed, 30 S.W.3d 304, 306 (Tenn.2000). With these principles in mind, we shall now construe the term claimant as found in Tenn.Code Ann. § 9-8-307(e). Section 20-5-106(a) of the Tennessee Code Annotated provides in pertinent part that [t]he right of action which a person, who dies from injuries received from another, or whose death is caused by the wrongful act, omission, or killing by another, would have had against the wrongdoer, in case death had not ensued, shall not abate or be extinguished by the person's death but shall pass to the person's surviving spouse and, in case there is no surviving spouse, to the person's children or next of kin .... (Supp.2000)(emphasis added). The plain language of Tenn.Code Ann. § 20-5-106(a) establishes that in a wrongful death suit only one right of action exists: the action that the decedent would have had, absent death, against the negligent wrongdoer. Claimant is defined as [o]ne who claims or asserts a right, demand, or claim. BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 247 (6th ed.1990). The decedent is the sole party who holds a right of action or claim in a wrongful death suit. See Lynn v. City of Jackson, 63 S.W.3d 332, 336 (Tenn.2001) (stating that Tennessee's wrongful death statute does not create a new cause of action for the beneficiaries but instead preserves the right of action of the decedent.). The decedent's survivors are only asserting the decedent's right of action on behalf of the decedent. Accordingly, because Tenn.Code Ann. § 20-5-106(a) creates one claim or right of action vested in the decedent, the decedent is the sole claimant in a wrongful death action. The Kis maintain, however, that Tenn.Code Ann. § 20-5-113 creates two separate rights to damages, which has the effect of permitting two claimants to exist in a wrongful death action. Section 20-5-113 of the Tennessee Code Annotated provides in pertinent part that when suit is brought for damages, as provided for by §§ 20-5-106 and 20-5-107, the party suing shall, if entitled to damages, have the right to recover for the mental and physical suffering, loss of time, and necessary expenses resulting to the deceased from the personal injuries, and also the damages resulting to the parties for whose use and benefit the right of action survives from the death consequent upon the injuries received. (1994) (emphasis added). Section 20-5-113 of the Tennessee Code Annotated establishes the types of damages that may be recovered in a wrongful death action. In Jordan v. Baptist Three Rivers Hospital, 984 S.W.2d 593 (Tenn.1999), we held that the wrongful death damages statute, Tenn.Code Ann. § 20-5-113, permits an award of consortium damages as part of the pecuniary value of the deceased's life. Id. at 601. As we stated in Jordan , however, [t]his holding does not create a new cause of action but merely refines the term `pecuniary value.' Id. Thus, beneficiaries do not have an individual claim or cause of action for the wrongful death of the decedent. Instead, the beneficiaries may recover damages for their individual losses that arise pursuant to the right of action vested in the decedent. See Kline v. Eyrich, 69 S.W.3d 197, 207 (Tenn.2002) (stating that although the living beneficiaries of the action may seek recovery for their own losses in addition to the losses of the decedent, the right of action remains one that is single and indivisible). More than one claimant is not created in a wrongful death action, however, simply because beneficiaries may be compensated for their individual losses as a part of the decedent's right of action or claim. The Kis argue that this result is anomalous because in a spousal injury case the State may be liable for a maximum of $600,000 but in a wrongful death action the State may only be liable for a maximum of $300,000. In Hunley v. Silver Furniture Manufacturing Co., 38 S.W.3d 555 (Tenn.2001), this Court reiterated that the right to recover for loss of consortium is a right independent of the spouse's right to recover for the injuries themselves. Id. at 557 (citing with approval Swafford v. City of Chattanooga, 743 S.W.2d 174, 178 (Tenn.Ct.App.1987)). Thus, in a spousal injury action two claimants may exist because the non-injured spouse may maintain a separate cause of action or claim for loss of consortium pursuant to statute. Hunley, 38 S.W.3d at 557; Tuggle v. Allright Parking Sys., 922 S.W.2d 105, 108 (Tenn.1996). In a wrongful death action, however, loss of consortium is only a part of the recoverable damages in the decedent's right of action. Accordingly, we hold that Jong-Do is the sole claimant under Tenn.Code Ann. § 9-8-307(e) as contemplated by Tenn.Code Ann. § 20-5-106(a) and Tenn.Code Ann. § 20-5-113.