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Evans v. Diaz6/4/1993
could mean a change in the extent of damages recoverable. Certain damages recoverable in wrongful death actions are measured by considering the relationship of the beneficiaries to the deceased and, in certain instances, the ages of the various beneficiaries. Bowen v. Constructors Equipment Rental Co., 283 N.C. 395, 196 S.E.2d 789 (1973). "The first step to determine the damages recoverable under [section (b)(4) of the Wrongful Death Statute, N.C.G.S. ยง 28A-18-2] is to identify the particular persons who are entitled to receive the damages recovered." Id. at 418, 196 S.E.2d at 805. Altering the identity of wrongful death beneficiaries through the device of renunciation would alter the measure of damages for which the defendant could be liable. We are confident the legislature did not intend to empower wrongful death beneficiaries to manipulate in this way the damages for which a defendant might be liable.
Instructive on this point is our decision in In re Estate of Glenn, 258 N.C. 351, 128 S.E.2d 408 (1962) (per curiam). There a husband and wife, Herbert and Jo Ann Glenn, were both killed
in an automobile accident; but the husband survived the wife. Both died intestate. The estates of both brought wrongful death actions against certain defendants. The husband's father was administrator of his son's estate. The husband's parents, his father both as administrator and as heir and his mother as heir petitioned the clerk under the predecessor statute to Chapter 31B to be permitted to renounce their son's estate's and their individual interests in the wife's estate. The clerk allowed the petition but the Resident Superior Court Judge declined to approve the clerk's order. On appeal this Court concluded that while the husband's parents were entitled to renounce their interests in his wife's estate, "the renunciation . . . shall not adversely affect any rights or defenses which may be asserted to defeat any claim on behalf of the estate of the decedent." In re Estate of Glenn, 258 N.C. at 353, 128 S.E.2d at 409. In effect, this Court held that the renunciation had no application to the wrongful death actions.
The purpose of the renunciation statute, it seems clear to us, is to provide according to its terms for renunciation of property interests which are transferred by intestate succession or by wills, life insurance, testamentary or inter vivos trusts, pension plans or other such voluntarily drawn instruments of transfer. The legislature did not intend the statute to apply to recoveries under the Wrongful Death Act.
For the foregoing reasons, the decision of the Court of Appeals reversing the judgment of the superior court is
REVERSED.
Justice Parker did not participate in the consideration or decision of this case.
Disposition
REVERSED.
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