Scott v. Estate of Myers, 1D02-4617.

• Decision Date: 31 March 2004
• Docket Number: No. 1D02-4617.,1D02-4617.
• Parties: Annette C. SCOTT, the mother, Appellant, v. The ESTATE OF Todd Barrett MYERS, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

871 So.2d 947

Annette C. SCOTT, the mother, Appellant, v. The ESTATE OF Todd Barrett MYERS, Appellee.

No. 1D02-4617.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

March 31, 2004.

Gordon P. Scott, Havana, for Appellant.

Richard E. Benton, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

HAWKES, J.

The decedent's mother, Appellant, Annette Scott, appeals from the trial court's order requiring portions of estate administrative costs, in particular payment of funeral expenses, to be paid from the survivors' wrongful death action recovery. We reverse.

Scott's son, Todd Myers, and his friend, Micheal Gruver died in an automobile accident in a vehicle driven by Gruver in which Myers was a passenger. Myers' will named Gruver beneficiary, and Gruver's daughter, Courtney Gruver, contingent beneficiary if Gruver failed to survive him. Other than Gruver and Ms. Gruver, Myers made no provision for any other person, including his mother, Scott.

Scott paid Myers' funeral expenses, and filed a claim for the expenses against Myers' estate. No objection to this claim was made. The only liquid assets of Myers' estate was a bank account containing $126,486.46, $25,000.00 of which derived from the policy limits of Myers' UM policy and $100,000.00 of which derived from Gruver's UM policy, which Gruver's insurer tendered without litigation. The personal representative filed a wrongful death suit against Gruver's estate but, after investigation, determined the estate had no additional assets to justify expenditure of additional Myers' estate assets to pursue the survivors' wrongful death claim.

The personal representative tendered the $125,000.00 proceeds from both UM policies to Myers' parents, the only survivors under the wrongful death statute, and proposed to settle the wrongful death action against the Gruver estate without further action. Scott objected to terminating the wrongful death action and demanded the personal representative continue to pursue the survivors' claims. Scott also sought to have the personal representative removed. The dispute centered on the likelihood of recovering additional compensation for the survivors, not whether the survivors had additional uncompensated damages.

Due to the dispute between the personal representative and Scott, the trial court ordered mediation, which ended unsuccessfully. Ultimately, the trial court satisfied Scott's claim against the estate for funeral expenses by allocating a portion of the wrongful death proceeds already tendered as a survivors' benefit as estate satisfaction of the funeral expense claim. By ordering satisfaction of the funeral expenses claim to be paid from the survivors' wrongful death proceeds, the trial court erred.

In a wrongful death action, the personal representative has an obligation to recover damages sustained by both the survivors and the estate. See § 768.20, Fla. Stat. (2001). The types of damages recoverable by the estate and the survivors are enumerated by statute. See § 768.21, Fla. Stat. (2001). However, the damages allowed the estate are separate and distinct from damages recoverable by the deceased's survivors. See Fla. Crushed Stone Co. v. Johnson, 546 So.2d 1102 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989)

. Proceeds from

a wrongful death action are not for the benefit of the estate, and are not subject to...