WOOD v. WAYMAN

• Decision Date: 07 May 2010
• Docket Number: 1070232.
• Citation: 47 So.3d 1212
• Parties: Charles A. WOOD, M.D., et al. v. Ann WAYMAN, surviving spouse of Charles R. Wayman, deceased.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

47 So.3d 1212

Charles A. WOOD, M.D., et al.

v.Ann WAYMAN, surviving spouse of Charles R. Wayman, deceased.

1070232.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

May 7, 2010.

Michael K. Wright and Jackie H. Trimm of Starnes & Atchison LLP, Birmingham, for appellants Charles Wood, M.D., and Ozark Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, P.C., for appellants.

E. Hamilton Wilson, Jr., of Ball, Ball, Matthews & Novak, PA, Montgomery, for appellant David Claassen, M.D.

David Randolph Smith of Law Offices of David Randolph Smith & Edmund J. Schmidt III, Nashville, Tennessee; and William C. Maddox, Dothan, for appellee.

PARKER, Justice.

Pursuant to Rule 5, Ala. R.App. P., this Court granted a petition for permission to appeal filed by Charles A. Wood, M.D., Ozark Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, P.C. (“Ozark”), and David Claassen, M.D. (hereinafter referred to collectively as “the physicians”), the defendants in a medical-malpractice wrongful-death action filed by Ann Wayman (“Wayman”), the surviving spouse of Charles R. Wayman, deceased, whom Charles named as his personal representative in his will. The petition asks us to review the order of the trial court holding that when a person dies testate and the person named as personal representative in the will files a wrongful-death action within the statutory limitations period, but is not formally appointed as personal representative until after the statutory limitations period has run, “the appointment relates back to the death or [the] date of filing the suit and the suit is not barred by the Statute of Limitations.” Trial court's order of October 12, 2007.

The specific question before this Court is stated in the order of the trial court certifying for permissive appeal its interlocutory order denying the physicians' motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for a summary judgment, as follows:

“The controlling question of law is whether [Wayman's] appointment as personal representative of the estate of Charles Wayman, accomplished after the statute of limitations for a wrongful death medical malpractice claim expired, can relate back to the filing of this lawsuit pursuant to Alabama Code § 43-2-831 and Ogle v. Gordon, 706 So.2d 707 (Ala.1997), or whether the Wrongful Death Statute and Downtown Nursing Home, Inc. v. Pool, 375 So.2d 465 (Ala.1979), dictate reversal.”

Background

Charles Wayman died on December 30, 2004, while under the care of the physicians. He left a will in which he named Wayman as his personal representative.

On December 27, 2006, Wayman filed a wrongful-death action in the Dale Circuit Court alleging that Charles's death had resulted from complications of an undiagnosed case of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. On January 19, 2007, Dr. Wood and Ozark moved the trial court to dismiss the action on the basis that the complaint failed to state a claim on which relief could be granted. Dr. Claassen filed an answer in which he denied liability and also moved the trial court to dismiss the action. Dr. Wood and Ozark also filed an answer after the trial court on April 24, 2007, denied their motion to dismiss.

The physicians sought discovery from Wayman on issues that included copies of her letters of appointment as personal representative of Charles's estate. When the letters were not provided, the physicians requested the Dale Probate Court to advise them if such an estate existed. The probate court responded on August 17, 2007, stating that there was “no estate on a Charles R. Wayman.” On September 6, 2007, the physicians filed a motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for a summary judgment. ¹

In their motion, the physicians argued that under § 6-5-410, Ala.Code 1975, only a personal representative of the estate of a decedent may pursue a wrongful-death action. The “Wrongful Death Statute,” § 6-5-410, Ala.Code 1975, provides, in part:

“(a) A personal representative may commence an action and recover such damages as the jury may assess in a court of competent jurisdiction within the State of Alabama, and not elsewhere, for the wrongful act, omission, or negligence of any person, persons, or corporation, his or their servants or agents, whereby the death of his testator or intestate was caused, provided the testator or intestate could have commenced an action for such wrongful act, omission, or negligence if it had not caused death.

“....

“(c) The damages recovered are not subject to the payment of the debts or liabilities of the testator or intestate, but must be distributed according to the statute of distributions.

“(d) Such action must be commenced within two years from and after the death of the testator or intestate.”

The physicians argued that under the rule established in Downtown Nursing Home, Inc. v. Pool, 375 So.2d 465 (Ala.1979), no one but the personal representative can maintain a wrongful-death action and that any action by an administrator that occurred before a personal representative's formal appointment is a nullity. Because the action is a nullity, they argue, the doctrine of relation back cannot apply when the statute of limitations has expired before the formal appointment because there is no action to which the appointment could relate back.

On September 27, 2007, Wayman moved the trial court to deny the physicians' motions “by permitting an amendment [to the complaint] to substitute [Wayman] as personal representative of her deceased husband's estate as party-plaintiff.” She presented letters testamentary issued by the Barbour Probate Court ² on September 27, 2007, as Exhibit A to her motion. She argued that under Ogle v. Gordon, 706 So.2d 707 (Ala.1997), and § 43-2-831, Ala.Code 1975, the amendment substituting Wayman as personal representative is proper and relates back to the filing date of the original complaint. Wayman argued that in Ogle this Court expressly overruled Strickland v. Mobile Towing & Wrecking Co., 293 Ala. 348, 303 So.2d 98 (1974), upon which, Wayman argues, Downtown Nursing Home relied, thereby effectively overruling Downtown Nursing Home. Strickland had held that the doctrine of relation back did not apply in a wrongful-death action because at the time the action was filed the plaintiff had not been appointed as personal representative and had no capacity to sue, rendering the wrongful-death action a nullity so that there was nothing to which the amendment substituting the personal representative to the complaint, filed after the statute of limitations had expired, could relate back.

On September 28, 2007, the physicians filed their response to Wayman's motion. They argued that Wayman had misinterpreted the law when she argued that Downtown Nursing Home was no longer good law, because, they argued, the holding in Downtown Nursing Home has been confirmed in several opinions when the letters testamentary were issued after the statutory two-year period had run.

On October 12, 2007, the trial court denied the physicians' motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for a summary judgment and subsequently certified the question presented above in response to the physicians' motion for the certification of the order for a permissive appeal.

Analysis

[1] [2] [3] “Where, as here, the facts of a case are essentially undisputed, this Court must determine whether the trial court misapplied the law to the undisputed facts, applying a de novo standard of review. Carter v. City of Haleyville, 669 So.2d 812, 815 (Ala.1995). Here, in reviewing the denial of a summary judgment when the facts are undisputed, we review de novo the trial court's interpretation of statutory language and our previous caselaw on a controlling question of law.”

Continental Nat'l Indem. Co. v. Fields, 926 So.2d 1033, 1035 (Ala.2005).

In its order denying the physicians' motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for a summary judgment, the trial court adopted Wayman's argument, stating, in part:

“[W]hen a person dies after January 1, 1994,^{[ 3 ]} and the person named in the will as personal representative files a suit within 2 years or within the Statute of Limitations for wrongful death and the person named is formally appointed personal representative by the Probate Court after the Statute of Limitations has run, the appointment relates back to the death or [the] date of filing the suit and the suit is not barred by the Statute of Limitations. The filing of the suit in the name of the personal representative within the Statute of Limitations tolls the statute. Ogle v. Gordon, 706 So.2d 707 (Ala.1997). Section 43-2-831 Code of Alabama, 1975 (January 1, 1994).”

Section 43-2-831, Ala.Code 1975, provides:

“The duties and powers of a personal representative commence upon appointment. The powers of a personal representative relate back in time to give acts by the person appointed which are beneficial to the estate occurring prior to appointment the same effect as those occurring thereafter. Prior to appointment, a person named personal representative in a will may carry out written instructions of the decedent relating to the decedent's body, funeral, and burial arrangements. A personal representative may ratify and accept acts on behalf of the estate done by others where the acts would have been proper for a personal representative.”

(Emphasis added.) Thus, under § 43-2-831, a person named personal representative in a will may perform certain acts that are beneficial to the estate before his or her appointment by a probate court. The subsequent appointment of the person as the decedent's personal representative will relate back to provide authority for such acts.

[4] [5] [6] [7] It has been held that a wrongful-death action is not filed for the benefit of the estate, because the personal representative who brings such an action does not represent the estate.

“[I]n the context of a wrongful-death action, a ‘personal representative’ acts ‘as agent by legislative appointment for the effectuation of a legislative policy of the prevention of...