Court Opinion

ID: 9777201
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:02:06.108522+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:49.905061
License: Public Domain

VANCE, Justice,
dissenting.
The issue is not, as stated in the majority opinion, whether K.R.S. 411.135 provides parents with a right to recover for loss of affection and companionship that would have been derived from the deceased child during minority, which is separate and apart from the personal representative’s cause of action for wrongful death provided in K.R.S. 411.130. It is conceded that the right of recovery provided for parents by K.R.S. 411.135 is in addition to the other recoveries for wrongful death provided by K.R.S. 411.130.
The real issue is whether the right of recovery granted to parents by K.R.S. 411.-135 can be brought in their own name or whether it must be brought on their behalf by the personal representative of the deceased.
A recovery in a wrongful death action for medical expenses and loss of future earnings of a deceased minor is in most cases for the benefit of parents, but it cannot be brought by them in their own names; it must be brought by a personal representative.
Section 241 of the Kentucky Constitution is entitled Recovery for Wrongful Death. It provides:
“Whenever the death of a person shall result from an injury inflicted by negligence or wrongful act, then, in every such case, damages may be recovered for such death, from the corporations and persons so causing the same. Until otherwise provided by law, the action to recover such damages shall in all cases be prosecuted by the personal representative of the deceased person. The General Assembly may provide how the recovery shall go and to whom belong; and until such provision is made, the same shall form part of the personal estate of the deceased person.” (Emphasis added.)
K.R.S. 411.130 follows the constitutional mandate and designates the beneficiaries of any recovery. Section 1 of the statute provides:
“Whenever the death of a person results from an injury inflicted by the negligence or wrongful act of another, damages may be recovered for the death from the person who caused it, or whose agent or servant caused it. If the act was wilful or the negligence gross, punitive damages may be recovered. The action shall be prosecuted by the personal representative of the deceased.” (Emphasis added.)
An action for wrongful death is an action to recover damages for death resulting from a negligent or wrongful act. Kentucky Constitution, Section 241; K.R.S. 411.130(1). The action in this case seeks to recover damages resulting from a death caused by the negligent or wrongful act of another. It is, therefore, a wrongful death action.
The constitution of our state and the statutes of our state clearly require a wrongful death action to be brought by the personal representative of the deceased. It seems clear to me that both the constitution and the statute authorizing wrongful death actions prohibit an action brought individually by the parents.
The obvious reason behind this lawsuit is the attempt to circumvent the $50,000.00 limitation on recovery before the Board of Claims. I will not express any opinion as to whether the personal representative of the deceased could have asserted three separate claims before the Board of Claims, namely, one for the estate of the deceased and one for each of the parents. The fact is that he did not, and that matter is not *787before us. The only matter before us is whether the parents can assert a claim for wrongful death in their own name. I read the constitution and K.R.S. 411.130 to say that they cannot.
The majority opinion labors mightily over the concept of a separate cause of action, but insofar as I can discern, does not address the statutory and constitutional requirements designating who must bring the action.
GANT and STEPHENSON, JJ„ join in this dissent.