Court Opinion

ID: 9583238
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:36:20.090971+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:38:53.909639
License: Public Domain

Gregory, Justice,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent to the holding by the majority that the plaintiff is the real party in interest in this lawsuit. This is not a tort claim. If it were, the mother might very well be entitled to recover medical expenses. The cause of action upon which this complaint is based was created by statute. That statute vests the cause of action in certain persons. The plaintiff is not such a person. Code Ann. § 56-3406b (b), in pertinent part states: “In the event the company fails to pay each benefit when due, the person entitled to such benefits may bring an action to recover them.” The question is, who is the “person entitled to benefits?” That question is answered by the very next code section captioned “Persons entitled to Benefits.” In the case at bar, the person entitled to benefits is the plaintiffs minor child who is given a cause of action as a pedestrian struck by an owner’s motor vehicle. See Code Ann. § 56-3407b (c). The mother of the child cannot be permitted to bring suit in her own ñamé and recover against the insurance company under the policy even though she has incurred expenses on behalf of the child because the statute does not give her a cause of action.
Code Ann. § 81A-117 (a), in pertinent part, states: “Every action shall be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest.” “If an infant or incompetent person does not have a duly appointed representative, he may sue by his next friend or by a guardian ad *243litem.” Code Ann. § 81A-117 (c). Code Ann. § 81A-117 (a) also states: “No action shall be dismissed on the ground that it is not prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest until a reasonable time has been allowed after objection for ratification of commencement of the action by, or joinder or substitution of, the real party in interest; and such ratification, joinder or substitution shall have the same effect as if the action had been commenced in the name of the real party in interest.” Since the trial court found the mother to be the real party in interest, there has been no opportunity to cure that error. I would remand this case to the trial court to give the minor child, either through a guardian ad litem or through her next friend, a reasonable time to ratify the action already taken and be substituted as a party. If that did occur the trial court would re-enter judgment in the proper name. If ratification did not occur, the trial court would dismiss the action.
I am authorized to state that Justice Marshall joins in this dissent.