Blanchard v. Tinsman
445 So.2d 149 (1984)
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Rule of Law:
Under Louisiana Civil Code article 2315, the right to bring a wrongful death and survival action vests exclusively in the highest-ranking class of beneficiaries who survives the decedent in fact, even for a brief moment. This right then passes to the briefly surviving beneficiary's heirs, precluding any lower-ranking class of beneficiaries from asserting a claim.
Facts:
- A tractor-trailer driven by Richard T. Tinsman jackknifed and collided with a vehicle driven by Michael Lawrence Blanchard.
- Michael Lawrence Blanchard died instantly as a result of the collision.
- Michael's wife, Cheryl Verret Blanchard, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was also fatally injured in the collision.
- Cheryl exhibited a sign of life, a heartbeat, for a period of time after Michael's death.
- Cheryl remained unconscious and her heartbeat ceased while she was in an ambulance en route to the hospital, a short time after Michael died.
- Michael and Cheryl Blanchard had no children.
Procedural Posture:
- William and Sherry Blanchard (Michael's parents) filed a wrongful death and survival action in a Louisiana trial court against Richard T. Tinsman and other defendants.
- Several defendants filed exceptions of no right of action, arguing the Blanchards were not the proper parties to bring the suit.
- The trial court sustained the exception and dismissed the Blanchards' action against the defendants.
- The Blanchards, as plaintiffs-appellants, appealed the trial court's dismissal to the Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.
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Issue:
Do the parents of a decedent have a right of action for wrongful death and survival under LSA-C.C. art. 2315 when the decedent's spouse survived him for only a short period before also dying from injuries sustained in the same incident?
Opinions:
Majority - Stoker, Judge
No. The parents of the decedent do not have a right of action because the right vested exclusively in the surviving spouse who factually outlived the decedent, even for a very brief period. The court reasoned that LSA-C.C. art. 2315 establishes a strict hierarchy of beneficiaries, and the term 'surviving' refers to survival in fact and time, not 'survival of the accident' in a broader sense. Because Cheryl Blanchard's heart was beating after Michael's death, she factually survived him. As the surviving spouse, she belonged to the highest-ranking class of beneficiaries, and the right of action for Michael's death vested solely in her. Upon her subsequent death, this vested right passed to her own heirs (her parents) through inheritance, not to the next class of Michael's beneficiaries (his parents). The court acknowledged that this outcome may seem harsh and inequitable but held that it was bound by the clear language of the statute and precedent, stating that any remedy must come from the legislature.
Analysis:
This decision strictly interprets the hierarchy of beneficiaries in Louisiana's wrongful death statute, solidifying a bright-line rule for survivorship. It clarifies that 'survival,' for the purpose of vesting a cause of action, is a matter of factual, temporal succession, regardless of the duration of survival or the survivor's state of consciousness. The case highlights a potentially inequitable outcome where a cause of action passes to the heirs of a briefly surviving beneficiary rather than to the decedent's own family in the next statutory class. This reinforces the principle that courts will defer to the plain language of a statute over equitable considerations, placing the burden on the legislature to address such harsh results.
