ROBERT EDWIN SEIBERT, ET AL., PETITIONERS,
v.
MATTHEW L. MCNAMARA, JR., ET AL., RESPONDENTS
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GRIMES, Justice.
We review McNamara v. Seibert, 537 So. 2d 1009 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988), in which the Fifth District Court of Appeal, on rehearing, certified to this Court the following question of great public importance:
MAY A SURVIVOR, AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE FLORIDA WRONGFUL DEATH ACT, RECOVER FROM HIS OWN UNINSURED MOTORIST INSURANCE POLICY HIS DAMAGES WHERE THE DECEDENT IS NOT A COVERED PERSON UNDER THE POLICY?
Id. at 1010-11. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. On facts essentially the same as those in the instant case for purposes of the legal issue involved, this Court recently held that the uninsured motorist statute does not require coverage for anyone who may be entitled to recover consequential damages as a survivor under the wrongful death statute when the decedent had neither liability nor uninsured motorist coverage under the policy. Valiant Ins. Co. v. Webster, 567 So. 2d 408 (Fla.1990). Therefore, as it relates to the facts of the case, we answer the certified question in the negative and quash the decision below.
It is so ordered.
OVERTON, MCDONALD and EHRLICH, JJ., concur. KOGAN, J., concurs specially with an opinion, in which BARKETT, J., concurs.
SHAW, C.J., dissents.
KOGAN, Justice,
specially concurring.
I concur solely because of this Court’s ruling in Valiant Insurance Company v. Webster, 567 So. 2d 408 (Fla.1990).
BARKETT, J., concurs.
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Ellis v. Humana OF Fla., Inc., 569 So. 2d 827 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)…of child support before the birth of the child, this inchoate obligation created at fertilization springs forth into full life upon the birth of the newborn child. In McNamara v. Seibert, 537 So. 2d 1009 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989), rev’d on other grounds 566 So. 2d 767 (Fla.1990) we held: [The unborn child] was an insured within the meaning of the policy, and has uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage as a “survivor” for the wrongful death of her father caused by the wrongful acts of the underinsured motorist.…
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Unborn Child v. Director James Reyes (Fla. 3d DCA 2023)…represented.”) (emphasis added). An unborn child may also recover damages under the Wrongful Death Act for a parent killed shortly before the child’s birth. See McNamara v. Seibert, 537 So. 2d 1009, 1010 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989), rev’d on other grounds 566 So. 2d 767 (Fla. 1990) (“[The unborn child] was an insured within the meaning of the policy, and has uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage as a ‘survivor’ for the wrongful death of her father caused by the wrongful acts of the underinsured motorist.”). Impo…
Authorities Cited
- Leonardi v. State, 567 So. 2d 408 (Fla. 1990)
- Valiant Ins. Co. v. Webster, 567 So. 2d 408 (Fla. 1990)
- McNAMARA v. Seibert, 537 So. 2d 1009 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988)