[WSBAPT] Child dies in childbirth, settle wrongful death with hospital

Mon Mar 29 13:52:31 PDT 2021

Dalynne,
Death of a child is a different statute. Yes, the parents are the beneficiaries, but they are each compensated on their respective loss, so not necessarily equal. In your instance, Mom brought the suit, but there are notice requirements for the other parent and a requirement for them to join in or be "out of luck" in the recovery (if paternity established). See below.
RCW 4.24.010<http://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=4.24.010>
Action for injury or death of child.
(1) A parent or legal guardian who has regularly contributed to the support of his or her minor child, and a parent or legal guardian who has had significant involvement in the life of an adult child, may maintain or join as a party an action as plaintiff for the injury or death of the child. For purposes of this section, "significant involvement" means demonstrated support of an emotional, psychological, or financial nature within the parent-child relationship, at or reasonably near the time of death, or at or reasonably near the time of the incident causing death, including either giving or receiving emotional, psychological, or financial support to or from the child.
(2) In addition to recovering damages for the child's health care expenses, loss of the child's services, loss of the child's financial support, and other economic losses, damages may be also recovered under this section for the loss of love and companionship of the child, loss of the child's emotional support, and for injury to or destruction of the parent-child relationship, in such amounts as determined by a trier of fact to be just under all the circumstances of the case.
(3) An action may be maintained by a parent or legal guardian under this section, regardless of whether or not the child has attained the age of majority, only if the child has no spouse, state registered domestic partner, or children.
(4) Each parent is entitled to recover for his or her own loss separately from the other parent regardless of marital status, even though this section creates only one cause of action.
(5) If one parent brings an action under this section and the other parent is not named as a plaintiff, notice of the institution of the suit, together with a copy of the complaint, shall be served upon the other parent: PROVIDED, That notice shall be required only if parentage has been duly established.
Such notice shall be in compliance with the statutory requirements for a summons. Such notice shall state that the other parent must join as a party to the suit within twenty days or the right to recover damages under this section shall be barred. Failure of the other parent to timely appear shall bar such parent's action to recover any part of an award made to the party instituting the suit.

Jennifer L. White, Esq.
[cid:image005.jpg at 01D724A1.B6025620]

jen at appletreelaw.com<mailto:jen at appletreelaw.com>
PO Box 11037
Yakima, WA 98909
509.225.9813

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Dalynne Singleton
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2021 12:26 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] Child dies in childbirth, settle wrongful death with hospital

I have a probate in which I appointed the mother of a child who died in childbirth.  The wrongful death attorney obtained a sizeable settlement from the hospital.
Since the child was born deceased, do the parents of the child, mother and father, share the wrongful death settlement?  Equally?

RCW 4.20.060 appears to provide in favor of the "parents" of the child and RCW 4.20.020 provides wrongful death beneficiaries are parents.

Dalynne Singleton
Gourley Law Group
Snohomish Escrow
The Exchange Connection
1002 10th Street / PO Box 1091
Snohomish, WA 98291
360.568.5065
360.568.8092  fax
dalynne at glgmail.com<mailto:dalynne at glgmail.com>
Website:  www.glglawgroup.com<http://www.glglawgroup.com>

As we face the challenges presented by COVID-19, we have limited staffing in the office to maintain critical functions. Attorney/client meetings will be handled by teleconference or virtually whenever possible.  Be assured that we will continue to advise & support our clients throughout this health emergency.  If you would like to set a telephone conference, please call or email my paralegal theresa at glgmail.com<mailto:theresa at glgmail.com> or dara at glgmail.com<mailto:dara at glgmail.com>.

Please be advised, we are requiring all clients with scheduled appointments coming in, as well as our staff, to be prepared to wear a face mask or adequate covering during all in office interactions.

LICENSED IN WASHINGTON AND OREGON
IMPORTANT/CONFIDENTIAL: This e-mail message (and any attachments accompanying it) may contain confidential information, including information protected by attorney-client privilege. The information is intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s).  Delivery of this message to anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is not intended to waive any privilege or otherwise detract from the confidentiality of the message.  If you are not the intended recipient, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, do not read, disclose, reproduce, distribute, disseminate or otherwise use this transmission, rather, please promptly notify the sender by reply e-mail, and then destroy all copies of the message and its attachments, if any.
[cid:image006.png at 01D724A1.B6025620]  [Rated by Super Lawyers] <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.superlawyers.com_redir-3Fr-3Dhttp-3A__www.superlawyers.com_washington_lawyer_Gary-2DManca_ca059d21-2D1b6e-2D4fca-2Db396-2D80c253f82402.html-26c-3Demail-5FSmall-5Fbadge-26i-3Dca059d21-2D1b6e-2D4fca-2Db396-2D80c253f82402&d=DwMGaQ&c=4VfW4Y7UDKzr0jHM1Tk29w&r=wJy-5dBh2e8cdp8KTDyWsjq7WPfG_HRNpImWO5yfs2A&m=FCmO2jSMMhwxfYb-8WN5A3L-M6GKeJ_8gc6cS3vECHM&s=z2j9M4GPJAL7pempIOe0TGAPkMWrzXJSlY1lyMRDlRg&e=>        [cid:image008.jpg at 01D724A1.B6025620]  [No alt text provided for this image]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20210329/c147738c/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 987192 bytes
Desc: image005.jpg
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20210329/c147738c/image005-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image006.png
Type: image/png
Size: 5410 bytes
Desc: image006.png
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20210329/c147738c/image006-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image007.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1524 bytes
Desc: image007.png
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20210329/c147738c/image007-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image008.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 32954 bytes
Desc: image008.jpg
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20210329/c147738c/image008-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image009.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 25680 bytes
Desc: image009.jpg
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20210329/c147738c/image009-0001.jpg>