Vickers v. Vickers, 18482

• Decision Date: 08 March 1954
• Docket Number: No. 18482,18482
• Citation: 210 Ga. 488,80 S.E.2d 817
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Parties: VICKERS v. VICKERS et al.

Page 817

80 S.E.2d 817

210 Ga. 488

VICKERS v. VICKERS et al.

No. 18482.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

March 8, 1954.

Rehearing Denied March 23, 1954.

Syllabus by the Court.

Under an act which the legislature passed in 1924, amending an act of 1887 and several prior acts, a widow, or, if no widow, a child or children, minor or sui juris, may recover for the wrongful homicide of the husband or parent the full value of his life without deduction for necessary or other personal expenses of the decedent had he lived. The fruits of the recovery are not a part of the decedent's estate; they are not subject to any debt or liability of any character of the deceased; they belong to the widow and the children of the deceased, both minors and adults, and whether they were dependent upon the deceased or not; and they are distributable according to the law of descents as fixed by Code, § 113-903, as if they were personal property descending to the widow and children from the deceased.

E. Way Highsmith, Brunswick, J. H. Highsmith, Highsmith & Highsmith, Brunswick, J. D. Blalock, Baxley Waycross, for plaintiff in error.

Bennett, Pedrick & Bennett, Larry E. Pedrick, E. Kontz Bennett, Waycross, Barrie Jones, Alma, for defendants in error.

CANDLER, Justice.

James Ira Vickers was killed on April 22, 1952, when an automobile he was driving collided with a truck which was then being operated by an employee of Brunswick Pulp & Paper Company, a corporation. The deceased was survived by his widow and their minor child; also by seven other children, the issue of a former marriage, two of whom were minors at the time of his death. His widow sued Brunswick Pulp & Paper Company for $175,000, alleging in her complaint that her husband was 56 years old at the time he was killed; that his death resulted from a negligent act for which the defendant was liable; and that the full value of his life was the amount sued for. Brunswick Pulp & Paper Company afterwards paid $38,700 in settlement of the suit, and from the amount so paid Mrs. Vickers received $25,000. She took the position that the adult children of the deceased were not entitled to any part of the amount received by her and refused to pay them any part of it. This litigation arose when James Vickers, an adult son of the deceased, sued Mrs. Vickers for his pro rata part of the amount received by her in consequence of the wrongful death of his father. His petition, which was afterwards amended, alleges his right to have and receive a stated part of the amount received by Mrs. Vickers; and it also alleges mismanagement and waste of the funds received by her, and prays for certain injunctive relief, discovery, a receiver, and a judgment for his pro rata part of the amount received by Mrs. Vickers. With respect to the amount received, it is alleged in his petition that Mrs. Vickers, as widow of the deceased, is entitled to one-fifth of the net amount paid by the tortfeasor, and that the eight children of the deceased are entitled to the remaining four-fifths, share and share alike. The six other children of the deceased by his former wife intervened, and the minor child of Mrs. Vickers was also made a party. The intervenors made, by their petition, substantially the same allegations which James Vickers had made in his petition, and likewise prayed for similar relief. By stipulation, the parties agreed for a named person to take possession of and hold the fund in controversy until the rights of the parties could be finally determined in this litigation, except it was agreed that Mrs. Vickers should retain $500 for certain personal uses, but the amount retained by her was to be properly accounted for when the rights of the parties were finally determined. On the trial it was shown, without dispute, that the deceased was survived by his widow and eight children, three of whom were minors at the time of his death; and that Mrs. Vickers received the net sum of $25,000 in settlement of the litigation which she had instituted against Brunswick Pulp and Paper Company for the wrongful death of her husband. By direction, the jury found that Mrs. Vickers, as widow of the deceased, was entitled to one-fifth of the recovery or $5,000, and that the eight children of the deceased were entitled to the remaining four-fifths, share and share alike, or $2,500 each. There is a proper exception as to this.

Here, as shown by our statement of the case, Mrs. Vickers, as widow, sued Brunswick Pulp & Paper Company, which had in consequence of a negligent act killed her husband. She sought to recover a sum amounting to the full value of his life without deduction for necessary or other personal expense which it would have been necessary for him to have incurred had be lived. The tort-feasor, in settlement of the litigation, paid $38,700, of which the widow received the net sum of 25,000. To whom did the money...