Florida Convalescent Centers v. Somberg

• Decision Date: 06 February 2003
• Docket Number: No. SC01-731.,SC01-731.
• Citation: 840 So.2d 998
• Parties: FLORIDA CONVALESCENT CENTERS, etc. Petitioner, v. Reed SOMBERG, etc., Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

840 So.2d 998

FLORIDA CONVALESCENT CENTERS, etc. Petitioner, v. Reed SOMBERG, etc., Respondent.

No. SC01-731.

Supreme Court of Florida.

February 6, 2003.

Louise H. McMurray and Carmen Y. Cartaya of McIntosh, Sawran, Peltz, & Cartaya, P.A., Miami, FL, for Petitioner.

Douglas F. Eaton of Sheftall & Torres, P.A., Miami, FL, for Respondent.

Joel S. Perwin of Podhurst, Orseck, Josefsberg, Eaton, Meadow, Olin & Perwin, P.A., Miami, FL, for the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, Amicus Curiae.

Jane Kreusler-Walsh and Rebecca J. Mercier-Vargas of Jane Kreusler Walsh, P.A., West Palm Beach, FL, for the Coalition

to Protect America's Elders, Amicus Curiae.

PER CURIAM.

We have for review the decision in Somberg v. Florida Convalescent Centers, Inc., 779 So.2d 667 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001), in which the Third District Court of Appeal certified conflict with the decision in First Healthcare Corp. v. Hamilton, 740 So.2d 1189 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. We approve the decision in Somberg, which held that the damages available to a personal representative bringing a cause of action under section 400.023(1), Florida Statutes (1997), are not limited by the damages provided for in Florida's Wrongful Death Act.¹

FACTS

Respondent, Reed Somberg, is the personal representative for the estate of Irving Ellis. Somberg, 779 So.2d at 668. In 1998, Ellis was admitted to a nursing home that was run by the petitioner, Florida Convalescent Centers, Inc. Id. According to Somberg's allegations in the trial court, Ellis contracted an infection, the nursing home failed to treat the infection, and Ellis died from complications a short time later. See id. Respondent filed an action against the nursing home in a suit that included a claim for wrongful death and a claim for violating the "right to receive adequate and appropriate health care"² set out in chapter 400 of the Florida Statutes (1997), Florida's Nursing Home Act. See 779 So.2d at 668.

Subsequently, respondent dropped the wrongful death claim and pursued only the chapter 400 claim. See id. The nursing home moved for summary judgment alleging "that chapter 400 damages for pain and suffering were eliminated in this case by the Wrongful Death Act." Id. Somberg opposed this motion, asserting that section 400.023, Florida Statutes, specifically authorizes the personal representative of a deceased patient to bring suit where the cause of the patient's death resulted from a violation of the patient's statutory rights. See id. The trial court entered a partial summary judgment in the nursing home's favor.

On appeal, the Third District reversed the summary judgment while acknowledging that "the issue before us is a substantial one on which the districts are divided." Id. The Third District illustrated the division between the districts by comparing the holding in First Healthcare Corp. v. Hamilton, 740 So.2d 1189, 1196 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999) ("[T]he elements of damages recoverable by the personal representative of a deceased nursing home resident whose death results from deprivation of the deceased's rights are limited to those which a personal representative is specifically authorized to recover under the Wrongful Death Act."), with the holding in Beverly-Enterprises Florida, Inc. v. Spilman, 661 So.2d 867, 869 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995) ("Both the plain language of the statute and the transcripts of the committee hearings indicate that the legislature did not intend for damages under section 400.023 to be limited by the Wrongful Death Act where the nursing home's infringement or deprivation of the patient's rights resulted in the patient's death."). In its holding, the Third District adopted the reasoning of the Fifth District's opinion in Spilman, while certifying conflict with the Fourth District's opinion in Hamilton.

ANALYSIS

The issue raised in this case is whether a personal representative for a deceased nursing home patient who brings a cause of action for a violation of the patient's statutory rights pursuant to section 400.023, Florida Statutes (1997), is limited to the damages provided for in the Wrongful Death Act when it is claimed that the patient's death resulted from a deprivation or infringement of the patient's statutory rights set out in chapter 400. Upon review of the conflicting decisions and the relevant statutes, we hold that the plain language of section 400.023(1) explicitly demonstrates that the damages of the Wrongful Death Act do not control the damages available under chapter 400.³

Plain Language of Chapter 400

It is well settled that legislative intent is the polestar that guides a court's statutory construction analysis. See State v. Rife, 789 So.2d 288, 292 (Fla.2001); McLaughlin v. State, 721 So.2d 1170, 1172 (Fla.1998). When the Court construes a statute, "we look first to the statute's plain meaning." Moonlit Waters Apartments, Inc. v. Cauley, 666 So.2d 898, 900 (Fla. 1996). Furthermore, "[w]hen the language of the statute is clear and unambiguous and conveys a clear and definite meaning, there is no occasion for resorting to the rules of statutory interpretation and construction; the statute must be given its plain and obvious meaning." Holly v. Auld, 450 So.2d 217, 219 (Fla.1984) (quoting A.R. Douglass, Inc., v. McRainey, 102 Fla. 1141, 137 So. 157, 159 (1931)).

Section 400.023(1), Florida Statutes (1997), reads, in relevant part:

Any resident whose rights as specified in this part are deprived or infringed upon shall have a cause of action against any licensee responsible for the violation. The action may be brought by the resident or his or her guardian, by a person or organization acting on behalf of a resident with the consent of the resident or his or her guardian, or by the personal representative of the estate of the deceased resident when the cause of death resulted from the deprivation or infringement of the decedent's rights. The action may be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce such rights and to recover actual and punitive damages for any deprivation or infringement on the rights of a resident. Any plaintiff who prevails in any such action may be entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees, costs of the action, and damages.... The remedies provided in this section are in addition to and cumulative with other legal and administrative remedies available to a resident and to the agency.

§ 400.023(1), Fla. Stat. (1997). Notably, section 400.023(1) specifically states that a claimant will be entitled to recover actual and punitive damages for any violation of the rights of a nursing home resident. Moreover, as noted by the Fifth District in Spilman, the Legislature not only included broad provisions for damages in chapter 400, but expressly stated that these statutory damages were authorized in addition to any other remedies that already existed. Furthermore, there is no reference in chapter 400 to the Wrongful Death Act or any other indication that the damages contemplated by or recoverable under section 400.023(1) are to be limited to those listed in the Wrongful Death Act. Thus, a cause of action brought under section 400.023(1) constitutes an independent cause of action with its own set of statutory damages.

If the Legislature had intended for the Wrongful Death Act to control damages available in a personal representative's action against a nursing home, it could have very easily provided for the application of the provisions of the Wrongful Death Act in chapter 400. See St. Mary's Hospital, Inc. v. Phillipe, 769 So.2d 961, 973 (Fla. 2000) (stating that "[i]f the Legislature intended for the Wrongful Death Act to control the elements of damages available in a medical malpractice arbitration" it could have provided for the application of the Wrongful Death Act to the Medical Malpractice Act). Logically, if the Legislature had intended for the Nursing Home Act to be limited by the Wrongful Death Act, it would have said so, rather than broadly providing not only for damages but also for a personal representative to claim those damages.

Accordingly, a plain reading of section 400.023(1) indicates that the damages provided for are not limited by the Wrongful Death Act. Thus, we hold that based on the plain language of section 400.023(1), the damages recoverable in a cause of action brought under that section are not limited by the Wrongful Death Act.

Spilman and Hamilton

In the opinion below, the Third District identified the conflict between the Fourth and Fifth Districts as to whether the Wrongful Death Act controlled damages for causes of action brought under section 400.023(1). Somberg, 779 So.2d at 668 (adopting the position of the Fifth District's decision in Spilman and certifying conflict with the Fourth District's decision in Hamilton). In Spilman, the Fifth District disagreed with a nursing home's argument that any damages available to a personal representative under chapter 400 were controlled by the Wrongful Death Act. Spilman, 661 So.2d at 868. Writing for the court, Judge Peterson emphasized the plain meaning of the language in section 400.023(1) expressly authorizing the recovery of damages, as well as the express language providing that the chapter 400 remedies were in addition to and cumulative of any other legal and administrative remedies available to a resident. See id. Judge Peterson also found confirmation of his policy analysis in the legislative history surrounding the 1986 amendment to section 400.023(1), which gave personal representatives the right to bring a suit for violations of a decedent's chapter 400 rights. See id. at 869.

In Hamilton, the Fourth District came to a different result, in part because the court disagreed with Spilman's reliance on "legislative committee reports" because "a long line of Florida case law holds that the legislative history of a statute is irrelevant where the wording of a statute is clear." Hamilton, 740...