Court Opinion

ID: 9724932
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:21:33.819371+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:10:57.663467
License: Public Domain

*356LOW, P. J.
I respectfully dissent.
The decision to bar the guardian-grandparents from prosecuting this wrongful death action exalts form over substance. The policy behind the wrongful death statute is to permit recovery for the loss of such elements as comfort, love and affection as well as pecuniary losses. (See Krouse v. Graham (1977) 19 Cal.3d 59, 69-70 [137 Cal.Rptr. 863, 562 P.2d 1022].) Plaintiffs were more than decedent’s guardians; at all pertinent times they acted as his parents. These three considered themselves a family unit and exhibited the love and affection one would expect from that relationship. If we were to give the statute the meaning advanced by defendants, we would create two types of “heirs”; one for the purpose of intestate succession and the other for the purpose of prosecuting a wrongful death action. Under the facts of this case, such a dual interpretation would lead to incongruous results. This is especially true when, as in this case, the persons challenging the rights of the grandparents are not the parents but the alleged tortfeasors.
Implicit in appointing plaintiffs the guardians is the conclusion that (1) the appointment is necessary or convenient, (2) that plaintiffs are fit and proper persons to have custody of the minor, and (3) there is clear and convincing evidence that custody in a nonparent is in the best interest of the child, and that continued parental custody would be detrimental to the child. (Prob. Code, § 1514; Civ. Code, § 4600; Guardianship of Phillip B. (1983) 139 Cal.App.3d 407, 421-422 [188 Cal.Rptr. 781].) Since the minor has been removed from the parents’ care and custody, it follows that the parents could not readily claim the loss of companionship, support or society from the minor’s wrongful death that the plaintiffs can justly assert. (See Krouse v. Graham, supra, 19 Cal.3d at pp. 69-70.) If we were to grant the parents’ standing to sue, as defendants urge, the parents would be plaintiffs in name only; they certainly could not assert a personal stake in the action or be said to have sustained a compensable injury. The only ones to benefit from such a result would be the tortfeasors, who could escape from paying any damages or only nominal damages for the minor’s death.
The persons whose rights are at issue and who stand to gain the most from this lawsuit, the parents, are conspicuously absent. The lawsuit is being defended by the alleged tortfeasors. Nowhere is there any mention of the parents’ rights or wishes. The defendants drape themselves in the twin banners of statutory construction and judicial restraint. However, defendants conveniently ignore the purpose behind the wrongful death statute; i.e., to compensate those family members who would suffer from the child’s death. (Ibid.) The only family members who stand in such a relation to the decedent are his guardian-grandparents. By their absence, it is safe to assume that the parents recognize that by giving up all responsibility for the *357child to the grandparents, they also waived any right to share in any recovery for the child’s death. The parents’ intention to treat the grandparents as the natural object of the decedent’s bounty is evidenced by the execution of the disclaimer in the decedent’s estate. (See former Prob. Code, § 190 et seq.)
Under the circumstances of this case, it would violate no public policy to hold that by disclaiming any interest in the minor’s estate, the parents and half-brother also waived any right to sue on their behalf for wrongful death. Rather than working against public policy, this result encourages the perpetuation of blood ties while recognizing the real psychological and emotional impact felt by the guardians.
It is well recognized that in circumstances like this, guardians become the minor’s “psychological parents.” (See Guardianship of Phillip B., supra, 139 Cal.App.3d at p. 420.) If anything, this bond is even stronger when the guardians are also the child’s grandparents. This “psychological parenthood” arises from the day-to-day attention to the child’s needs for physical care, nourishment, comfort, affection and stimulation. (Ibid.) It may safely be said that such duties may be more burdensome with mentally retarded and/or disabled children, as in this case. The bonding and affection that develop during this relation is certainly deserving of legal protection, including the right to prosecute this wrongful death action.
A great injustice would be done should defendants be allowed to prevail. This results in reluctant plaintiffs with little or no incentive to vigorously prosecute this action. The defendants would receive insulation from any damages which would closely approximate the true nature of the loss.
Accordingly, I would reverse.
Appellants’ petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied January 30, 1986. Bird, C. J., and Mosk, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.