Senate Bill sb2144

    Florida Senate - 2002                                  SB 2144

    By Senator Campbell





    33-1366-02

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to wrongful death; amending s.

  3         768.21, F.S.; providing a presumption relating

  4         to a minor child's recovery of damages

  5         resulting from the wrongful death of the

  6         child's parents; providing an effective date.

  7

  8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

  9

10         Section 1.  Subsection (3) of section 768.21, Florida

11  Statutes, is amended to read:

12         768.21  Damages.--All potential beneficiaries of a

13  recovery for wrongful death, including the decedent's estate,

14  shall be identified in the complaint, and their relationships

15  to the decedent shall be alleged.  Damages may be awarded as

16  follows:

17         (3)  Minor children of the decedent, and all children

18  of the decedent if there is no surviving spouse, may also

19  recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and

20  guidance and for mental pain and suffering from the date of

21  injury. For the purposes of this subsection, if both spouses

22  die within 30 days of one another or if both spouses die as a

23  result of the same wrongful act or series of acts arising out

24  of the same incident, each spouse is considered to have been

25  predeceased by the other.

26         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2002.

27

28            *****************************************

29                          SENATE SUMMARY

30    Provides a legal presumption relating to a minor child's
      recovery of damages for the wrongful death of the child's
31    parents.

                                  1

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.