Florida Senate - 2024                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 476
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì3247189Î324718                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/05/2024           .                                
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       The Committee on Judiciary (Grall) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Section 768.18, Florida Statutes, is reordered
    6  and amended to read:
    7         768.18 Definitions.—As used in ss. 768.16-768.26:
    8         (1)(2) “Minor children” means children under 25 years of
    9  age, notwithstanding the age of majority.
   10         (2)(5) “Net accumulations” means the part of the decedent’s
   11  expected net business or salary income, including pension
   12  benefits, that the decedent probably would have retained as
   13  savings and left as part of her or his estate if the decedent
   14  had lived her or his normal life expectancy. “Net business or
   15  salary income” is the part of the decedent’s probable gross
   16  income after taxes, excluding income from investments continuing
   17  beyond death, that remains after deducting the decedent’s
   18  personal expenses and support of survivors, excluding
   19  contributions in kind.
   20         (3)(4) “Services” means tasks, usually of a household
   21  nature, regularly performed by the decedent that will be a
   22  necessary expense to the survivors of the decedent. These
   23  services may vary according to the identity of the decedent and
   24  survivor and shall be determined under the particular facts of
   25  each case.
   26         (4)(3) “Support” includes contributions in kind as well as
   27  money.
   28         (5)(1) “Survivors” means the decedent’s spouse, children,
   29  parents, and, when partly or wholly dependent on the decedent
   30  for support or services, any blood relatives and adoptive
   31  brothers and sisters. It includes the child born out of wedlock
   32  of a mother, but not the child born out of wedlock of the father
   33  unless the father has recognized a responsibility for the
   34  child’s support. It also includes the parents of an unborn
   35  child.
   36         Section 2. Section 768.19, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   37  read:
   38         768.19 Right of action.—
   39         (1) When the death of a person is caused by the wrongful
   40  act, negligence, default, or breach of contract or warranty of
   41  any person, including those occurring on navigable waters, and
   42  the event would have entitled the person injured to maintain an
   43  action and recover damages if death had not ensued, the person
   44  or watercraft that would have been liable in damages if death
   45  had not ensued shall be liable for damages as specified in this
   46  act notwithstanding the death of the person injured, although
   47  death was caused under circumstances constituting a felony.
   48         (2)Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, a
   49  wrongful death action for the death of an unborn child may not
   50  be brought against the mother of the unborn child.
   51         Section 3. Subsection (4) and paragraph (a) of subsection
   52  (6) of section 768.21, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   53         768.21 Damages.—All potential beneficiaries of a recovery
   54  for wrongful death, including the decedent’s estate, shall be
   55  identified in the complaint, and their relationships to the
   56  decedent shall be alleged. Damages may be awarded as follows:
   57         (4) Each parent of a deceased minor child or an unborn
   58  child may also recover for mental pain and suffering from the
   59  date of injury. Each parent of an adult child may also recover
   60  for mental pain and suffering if there are no other survivors.
   61         (6) The decedent’s personal representative may recover for
   62  the decedent’s estate the following:
   63         (a) Loss of earnings of the deceased from the date of
   64  injury to the date of death, less lost support of survivors
   65  excluding contributions in kind, with interest. Loss of the
   66  prospective net accumulations of an estate, which might
   67  reasonably have been expected but for the wrongful death,
   68  reduced to present money value, may also be recovered:
   69         1. If the decedent’s survivors include a surviving spouse
   70  or lineal descendants; or
   71         2. If the decedent is not a minor child as defined in s.
   72  768.18 s. 768.18(2), there are no lost support and services
   73  recoverable under subsection (1), and there is a surviving
   74  parent.
   75  
   76  Evidence of remarriage of the decedent’s spouse is admissible.
   77         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.
   78  
   79  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   80  And the title is amended as follows:
   81         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   82  and insert:
   83                        A bill to be entitled                      
   84         An act relating to civil liability for the wrongful
   85         death of an unborn child; reordering and amending s.
   86         768.18, F.S.; revising the definition of the term
   87         “survivors” to include the parents of an unborn child;
   88         amending s. 768.19, F.S.; prohibiting a right of
   89         action against the mother for the wrongful death of an
   90         unborn child; amending s. 768.21, F.S.; authorizing
   91         parents of an unborn child to recover certain damages;
   92         conforming a cross-reference; providing an effective
   93         date.