Annette C. SCOTT, the mother, Appellant,
v.
The ESTATE OF Todd Barrett MYERS, Appellee.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
*948 Gordon P. Scott, Havana, for Appellant.
Richard E. Benton, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
HAWKES, J.
Thе decedent's mother, Appellant, Annette Scott, appeals from the trial court's order requiring portiоns of estate administrative costs, in particular payment of funeral expenses, to be paid from the survivors' wrongful death action recovery. We reverse.
Scott's son, Todd Myers, and his friend, Micheal Gruver died in an automоbile accident in a vehicle driven by Gruver in which Myers was a passenger. Myers' will named Gruver beneficiary, and Gruver's dаughter, Courtney Gruver, contingent beneficiary if Gruver failed to survive him. Other than Gruver and Ms. Gruver, Myers made no provision for аny other person, including his mother, Scott.
Scott paid Myers' funeral expenses, and filed a claim for the expenses against Myers' estate. No objection to this claim was made. The only liquid assets of Myers' estate was a bank account containing $126,486.46, $25,000.00 of which derived from the policy limits of Myers' UM policy and $100,000.00 of which derived from Gruver's UM policy, which Gruver's insurer tendered without litigation. The personal representative filed a wrongful death suit against Gruver's estate but, after investigation, determined the estate had no additional assets to justify expenditure of additiоnal Myers' estate assets to pursue the survivors' wrongful death claim.
The personal representative tendered the $125,000.00 proceeds from both UM policies to Myers' parents, the only survivors under the wrongful death statute, and proposed to settle the wrongful death action against the Gruver estate without further action. Scott objеcted to terminating the wrongful death action and demanded the personal representative continuе to pursue the survivors' claims. Scott also sought to have the personal representative removed. The dispute centered on the likelihood of recovering additional compensation for the survivors, not whether the survivors had additional uncompensated damages.
Due to the dispute between the personal representative and Scott, the trial court ordered mediation, which ended unsuccessfully. Ultimately, the trial cоurt satisfied Scott's claim against the estate for funeral expenses by allocating a portion of the wrongful death proceeds already tendered as a survivors' benefit as estate satisfaction of the funeral expense claim. By ordering satisfaction of the funeral expenses claim to be paid from the survivors' wrоngful death proceeds, the trial court erred.
In a wrongful death action, the personal representative has an obligation to recover damages sustained by both the survivors and the estate. See § 768.20, Fla. Stat. (2001). The types of damages recoverable by the estate and the survivors are enumerated by statute. See § 768.21, Fla. Stat. (2001). However, the damages allowed the estate are separate and distinct from damages recoverable by thе deceased's survivors. See Fla. Crushed Stone Co. v. Johnson,
Here, the personal representative made no attempt to allocаte any part of the recovered wrongful death proceeds to Myers' estate to pay estate expenses, although allocation could have been explored under the rationale discussed in Estate of Wiggins v. Destin,
A separate claim for funeral expenses, to which there was no objection, was made against thе estate. The fact that Scott paid Myers' funeral expenses, and funeral expenses are one еlement of damages that may be recovered under the wrongful death act, does not preclude Scоtt from filing a claim against the estate unless she has been fully compensated for all of her losses under the wrongful death status. Either the trial court's decision to sua sponte allocate a portion of the previоusly tendered proceeds to the survivors impermissibly enriches the estate, or the trial court extinguished Scott's unobjected to claim, reducing the wrongful death award to which she is entitled. Either would be error.
The trial court's award of funeral expenses from the wrongful death proceeds is REVERSED, and the case REMANDED for entry of an order reinstating Scott's claim for funeral expenses against the estate.
VAN NORTWICK and PADOVANO, JJ., concur.