Deggs v. Asbestos Corporation Limited

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court considered whether a personal representative could bring a wrongful death action when the decedent's underlying personal injury cause of action was time-barred before death. The court declined to overrule precedent holding that the decedent must have had a subsisting cause of action at the time of death, concluding that the petitioner had not shown the precedent to be harmful or that its legal underpinnings had disappeared. The court affirmed dismissal of the wrongful death action.

Holdings

1. Under Calhoun and Grant, a wrongful death action is unavailable when the statute of limitations on the decedent's underlying personal injury claim expired during the decedent's lifetime, because there was no subsisting cause of action in the decedent at the time of death.
2. The court declined to abandon Calhoun and Grant because Deggs failed to show that the precedent was harmful or that its legal underpinnings had been sufficiently undermined or had disappeared.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a personal representative may maintain a wrongful death action when the statute of limitations on the decedent's underlying personal injury claim expired before the decedent's death.
2. Whether the Washington Supreme Court should overrule or abandon Calhoun v. Washington Veneer Co. and Grant v. Fisher Flouring Mills Co. to the extent those decisions bar a wrongful death action under those circumstances.

Disposition

affirmed