Brodie v. Washington Water Power Co.

• Citation: 159 P. 791,92 Wash. 574
• Decision Date: 25 August 1916
• Docket Number: 12985.
• Parties: BRODIE et al. v. WASHINGTON WATER POWER CO.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Washington

159 P. 791

92 Wash. 574

BRODIE et al. v. WASHINGTON WATER POWER CO.

No. 12985.

Supreme Court of Washington

August 25, 1916

Department 2. Appeal from Superior Court, Spokane County; Henry L Kennan, Judge.

Action by Lucy G. Brodie and others against the Washington Water Power Company. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

Robertson & Miller, Hibschman & Dill, and C. H. White, all of Spokane for appellants.

Post Avery & Higgins, of Spokane, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

On November 28, 1909, A. C. Brodie, while a passenger on a street car of the Washington Water Power Company, was injured as the result of a collision occurring between the car upon which he was riding and another car of the company. Later on he made a claim upon the company for damages based on the injuries received. The company thereafter settled with him, paying him $2,500, and taking a release from him in which he acknowledged full payment and satisfaction of any and all claims and demands which he then had against the company, or which he might thereafter have by reason of the injuries received by him in the collision. On December 31, 1910, Brodie died, and the present action was instituted by his widow and children to recover for his death. In the complaint it was alleged that the death was the result of the injuries received in the collision, and that the collision was caused by the negligence of the company. To the complaint the company set up the settlement and satisfaction as an affirmative defense. A demurrer was interposed to the defense which the trial court overruled. The plaintiffs thereupon elected to stand upon the demurrers and refused to plead further, whereupon the court entered judgment to the effect that the plaintiffs take nothing by their action. This is an appeal from the judgment entered.

The statutes of this state relating to actions for death by wrongful or negligent act provide for two causes of action. By section 194 of the Code (Remington's) it is provided:

'No action for a personal injury to any person occasioning his death shall abate, nor shall such right of action determine, by reason of such death, if he have a wife or child living, * * * but such action may be prosecuted, or commenced and prosecuted, in favor of such wife, or in favor of the wife and children. * * *'

By section 183 ( Id.) it is provided:

'When the death of a person is caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another, his heirs or * * * representatives may maintain an action for damages against the person causing his death. * * * In every such action the jury may give such damages, as under all circumstances of the case may to them seem just.'

The statutes were enacted to overcome defects thought to exist in the common law. By the common law no person had the right to recover for the death of another, no matter how wrongfully or negligently caused, and the right of action possessed by a person injured did not survive his own life. The first section of the statute cited is plainly a survival statute. Its...