Blom v. United Air Lines, Inc.
| Decision Date | 17 June 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 20360,20360 |
| Citation | 152 Colo. 486,382 P.2d 993 |
| Parties | Margaret BLOM, Plaintiff in Error, v. UNITED AIR LINES, INC., John F. Grosso, Arthur J. Putz, and James M. Beattie, Defendants in Error. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Fred M. Winner, Clarke W. Karr, Denver, for plaintiff in error.
John P. Beck, Denver, for defendants in error.
Plaintiff in error, to whom we will refer as Margaret, filed her complaint in the district court of the City and County of Denver in which she sought to recover damages for the death of her brother, allegedly caused by the negligence of the defendants in error.
The answer of defendants in error contained the following: 'The complaint fails to state a claim against the defendants upon which relief can be granted.' Following a hearing the trial court sustained this defense and entered judgment for the defendants.
If under pertinent statutory provisions an action may be maintained by a sister of a person whose death was caused by the negligence of another, said sister being wholly dependent upon the deceased for support; and where no wife or children, father or mother of the deceased survive him; then the judgment of the trial court must be reversed. If, however, the pertinent statutes do not permit a sister to maintain such action the judgment must be affirmed.
C.R.S. '53, 41-1-1, in pertinent part provides that the corporation and persons described in the complaint filed by Margaret as having wrongfully caused the death of her brother, shall be liable for damages resulting from such wrongful death, and may be sued for and recovered:
'(a) By the husband or wife of deceased; or
'(b) If there be no husband or wife, or he or she fails to sue within one year after such death, then by the heir or heirs of the deceased; * * *.'
'(c) If such deceased be a minor or unmarried, then by the father or mother who may join in the suit, and each shall have an equal interest in the judgment; or if either of them be dead, then by the survivor.'
As grounds for reversal it is argued that Margaret is a person expressly authorized to sue for and recover damages resulting from the death of her brother under subsection (1)(b) above quoted, in that under the allegations of her complaint there was no surviving spouse or children and she then falls within the coverage of the language 'then by the heir or heirs of the deceased.' Counsel for Margaret urge that we should re-examine the holding of this court...
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Brown v. Wichita State University
...the accident occurred) sisters of a decedent cannot maintain an action for the wrongful death of a brother (citing Blom v. United Air Lines, 152 Colo. 486, 382 P.2d 993 (1963) and cases cited While the foregoing recitals are set forth in the appellees' motion for summary judgment, the trial......
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Broderson v. Boehm, 9304
...hold that collateral heirs may never be beneficiaries under the wrongful death statute. For example, in Blom v. United Airlines, Inc., 152 Colo. 486, 382 P.2d 993 (1963), a sister of the decedent was not allowed to maintain an action as an "heir or heirs of the deceased" even though she was......
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Herrera v. Glau
...descendent" of the decedent. That reasoning has been applied in later cases to deny standing to siblings, see Blom v. United Air Lines, 152 Colo. 486, 382 P.2d 993 (1963), and parents of adult children where the decedent had a surviving spouse, see McGill v. General Motors Corp., 174 Colo. ......
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Ferguson v. Spalding Rehab., LLC
...P.2d 790, 790-91 (1971) (parents of deceased not lineal descendants entitled to sue under the WDA); Blom v. United Air Lines, Inc. , 152 Colo. 486, 487-88, 382 P.2d 993, 994-95 (1963) (sister not a lineal descendant); Martin v. Cuellar , 131 Colo. 117, 118, 121-22, 279 P.2d 843, 843-45 (195......