Court Opinion

ID: 9588023
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:28:58.654352+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:42:00.244604
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Appellants contend we have overlooked the decision of Gordon v. Gillespie, 135 Ga. App. 369 (217 SE2d 628), which “would require a different judgment from that rendered...” We cannot agree. Gordon, supra, was an action brought by one of six surviving children, as administrator of the estate, for the full value of the life of his father. An action for the death of one’s father is brought under Code Ann. § 105-1302 (Code § 105-1302, as amended through 1973, p. 488) which requires the action to be brought by “[a] widow alone, or if no widow, a child or children ...” Thus, the widow alone is the primary beneficiary of the right of action.
In the instant case this action for the death of the mother was brought under Code Ann. § 105-1306 (Code § 105-1306, as amended through 1971, p. 359), which permits “[t]he husband and/or child or children” (emphasis supplied) to recover for the death of the wife-mother. Thus, the husband and children are the primary beneficiaries of the right of action. Also, Code Ann. § 105-1306 has the additional provision, not contained in Code Ann. § 105-1302, that “if any one or more of those comprising the husband and children . . . shall desire to bring an action ... he or they may file such action and cause” the others “to be served personally ...” This statute permits less than all of the primary beneficiaries to bring only one action *555against a defendant and the rest may be personally served as additional plaintiffs. It also provides that “any of such persons not a party plaintiff shall have no further right of action against the alleged tortfeasor; but... shall have a right against the parties plaintiff for his or their proportionate part of the recovery in said action.” Thus, only one action may be brought against the alleged tortfeasor, whether it is brought by all or less than all the potential plaintiffs. Secondly, the full value of the life of the decedent must be recovered in this action for no other potential plaintiff not a party to this action can bring an action against the tortfeasor. A potential plaintiff, not a party to this action, has a remedy under Code Ann. § 105-1306 and it is against “the parties plaintiff for his or their proportionate part of the recovery in said action” — or, stated another way, the second action is for their proportionate share of the recovery for the full value of the life of the decedent. Hence, there is a deliberate legislative difference between Code Ann. §§ 105-1302 and 105-1306, actions for the death of a father and mother, and the problem, if any, is for the legislature — not this Court.

Motion for rehearing denied.