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Sindelar v. Leguia5/17/2000
The plaintiff-mother, Virginia L. Sindelar, appeals from a Superior Court hearing justice's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant-father, Luis G. Leguia. She asserts that the trial justice committed error by granting summary judgment, arguing in effect, that our Wrongful Death Act recognizes an "absentee parent" exception to recovery of certain wrongful-death proceeds, and that therefore there existed genuine issues of material fact as to whether the defendant-father enjoyed a sufficient familial relationship with their decedent-son to allow him to share one-half those proceeds. This case came before us pursuant to an order directing the parties to appear on April 4, 2000, and to show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not be summarily decided. No cause has been shown, and we now proceed to decide the issues before us.
I. Case Facts and Travel
The marriage between Virginia L. Sindelar (Sindelar) and Luis G. Leguia (Leguia) ended in divorce in 1982, and the parties were granted joint custody of their two children, Gregor and Carl, with physical custody of both children granted to Sindelar. Leguia was ordered to pay child support , which he did until both children reached the age of majority. Leguia also provided health insurance for the children and contributed toward their college tuition expenses. On November 30, 1996, Gregor, the older son, then aged twenty-nine, was killed in an automobile accident in Rhode Island. At the time of his death, Gregor was unmarried, had no children, and left no will. Neither parent was involved in the accident. Sindelar, on subsequent petition, was appointed administrator of Gregor's estate by the Burrillville Probate Court in March 1997.
Sindelar proceeded to settle various wrongful death claims on behalf of Gregor's estate for net proceeds of approximately $116,000. In November 1997, Sindelar filed a motion in the probate court, seeking to deny Leguia any portion of the wrongful-death settlement proceeds, asserting that Leguia's long-standing lack of contact with Gregor barred him from recovery under G.L. 1956 chapter 7 of title 10, Rhode Island's Wrongful Death Act (the Act). Her probate court motion was denied and she appealed to the Superior Court.
In Superior Court, Leguia moved for summary judgment. He first noted in his motion that he had paid any and all necessary child support required during Gregor's minority and also that he was not involved in Gregor's accident and resulting death. He thus asserted that, as a matter of law, under the Act and under Rhode Island intestacy law, he was entitled to a half share of the wrongful-death settlement proceeds, regardless of the nature or quality of his relationship with Gregor prior to Gregor's death. Sindelar however, asserted that the Act was intended by the General Assembly to provide some level of compensation only to the decedent's heirs at law who possessed a reasonable expectation of pecuniary benefit from the ongoing life of the decedent, advocating a so-called "absentee parent" exception to recovery. Consequently, she asserted that because Leguia had no relationship with Gregor other than by visitation rights from the date of the divorce, he had no reasonable expectation of pecuniary benefit from his life and should be barred from receiving a pecuniary windfall therefrom. The hearing justice, after considering the parties' arguments, concluded that in this case, distribution of damages was fixed by the plain language of the Act, and thus Leguia was entitled to receive his statutory share of the wrongful-death settlement proceeds, without judicial inquiry into the quality or nature of his relationship with Gregor. Accordingly, he ordered the
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