KAREN CAPONE, INDIVIDUALLY, AND AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF FRANK CAPONE, APPELLANTS,
v.
PHILIP MORRIS U.S.A. INC., APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Karen Capone appealed the dismissal of her amended complaint seeking to add a wrongful death claim against Philip Morris for her deceased husband Frank's smoking-related injuries. The court affirmed the dismissal, holding that Florida law requires wrongful death claims to be filed as separate lawsuits within two years of death, not as amendments to personal injury actions, and the statute of limitations had expired before Capone filed her separate wrongful death action.
The court held that under Florida law, a personal injury claim abates upon the plaintiff's death and cannot be amended to include a wrongful death claim. Instead, a separate wrongful death action must be filed as a new lawsuit within two years of death. Because Capone did not file a separate wrongful death action within the two-year limitations period, her claim was barred.
[1] A personal injury action abates upon the death of the plaintiff, and any claim for wrongful death must be brought as a new and separate action.
[2] A wrongful death action must be filed within two years from the date of the decedent's death.
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“a personal injury claim is extinguished upon the death of the plaintiff, and any surviving claim must be brought as a new and separate wrongful death action— it cannot be brought as an amendment to a personal injury action”
Establishes the core holding that wrongful death claims cannot be added by amendment to existing personal injury actions
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceFrank and Karen Capone filed a personal injury complaint against Philip Morris in 2005 based on Frank's smoking-related injuries. Frank died in July 2…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Amendment Of Complaint cases and more on FLexlaw
Karen Capone appeals from an order denying her motion for relief from judgment, motion to correct a scrivener’s error, and verified motion to vacate and/or reconsider. We affirm, as Karen Capone is precluded from filing a wrongful death action because the appropriate statute of limitations has run.
In 2005, Karen Capone and her husband Frank filed a complaint against Philip Morris and other cigarette manufacturers, alleging that Frank had sustained certain personal injuries as a result of smoking the Defendants’ cigarettes. Specifically, the complaint contained counts for negligence, strict liability, conspiracy to commit fraudulent misrepresentation and conspiracy to commit fraudulent concealment. Frank died in July 2006.1 On January 14, 2008, Karen Capone moved to amend the complaint to assert what she claimed was a new cause of action for injured smokers created by the Florida Supreme Court in Engle v. Liggett Group, Inc., 945 So.2d 1246 (Fla.2006), and moved to substitute herself as the estate’s personal representative. On February 19, 2008, Philip Morris Co. filed a motion to dismiss claiming that the personal injury action was abated when Mr. Capone died and that any action for wrongful death had to be filed as a new lawsuit pursuant to Section 768.20, Florida Statutes (2008). On June 10, 2008, Capone noticed her motions for a September 2, 2008 hearing. On September 2, 2008, nine months after Capone had filed her Motion to Amend and eight months after Philip Morris filed its Motion to Dismiss and two months after the two-year anniversary of Mr. Capone’s death, Plaintiffs motions were brought for hearing. On September 16, 2008, the trial court denied the Motion to Amend and Motion to Substitute and dismissed the case as “barred by the Wrongful Death Act.” Capone then filed her Motion for Reconsideration of Final Dismissal Order.
The problem that now arose was that the motion’s certificate of service to opposing counsel was not dated or signed but was, in fact, in blank. Additionally, Capone could not point to anything to show that the motion was served within the ten-day time period specified by Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.530(b). At the hearing, this problem was raised and discussed but the trial court did not rule on it. The trial court subsequently vacated the dismissal and allowed the amended complaint to proceed, and Philip Morris timely filed its Motion to Vacate. A successor judge heard the motion and correctly determined that, in fact, the record did not show that Capone’s Motion to Reconsider was timely filed. The trial court vacated the prior order and dismissed the complaint.
The statute of limitations for a wrongful death action is two years from the date of death. § 95.11(4)(d), Fla. Stat. (2008). Frank Capone died on July 19, 2006. On January 9, 2008, within two years of Mr. Capone’s death, Karen Capone filed a motion to amend the personal injury complaint to include a new cause of action for wrongful death rather than filing a separate suit as required under the Wrongful Death Act, section 768.19, Florida Statutes (2008). By the time the September 2008 hearing on Capone’s Motion to Amend *36took place, however, the statute of limitations for filing a separate statutory wrongful death action had run.
The original complaint for personal injury could not be amended, on Frank’s death, to include a new wrongful death claim because Florida law establishes that a personal injury claim is extinguished upon the death of the plaintiff, and any surviving claim must be brought as a new and separate wrongful death action— it cannot be brought as an amendment to a personal injury action.2 See § 768.20 (“[W]hen a personal injury to the decedent results in death, no action for the personal injury shall survive, and any such action pending at the time of death shall abate”); Martin v. United Security Servs., Inc. 314 So.2d 765, 770 (Fla.1975) (upholding section 768.20, and explaining that, “a separate lawsuit for death-resulting personal injuries cannot be brought as a survival action”); ACandS, Inc. v. Redd, 703 So.2d 492, 494 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997) (plaintiffs personal injury action is extinguished and abated even when the plaintiffs death occurs during the trial of his/her case); Niemi, 862 So.2d at 31 (holding that, when death is the result of a personal injury, the law of Florida essentially substitutes a statutory wrongful death action for the personal injury action that would otherwise survive under section 46.021).
Karen Capone argues that her wrongful death claim was not barred by the wrongful death statute of limitations in section 95.11(4)(d), as the Engle opinion allowed her a year from the date of the mandate in that case to bring her suit.3 This argument does not need to be addressed because Capone’s amended complaint was filed on January 14, 2008, more than one year from the January 11, 2007, Engle mandate. The August 28, 2009 order was correct as the trial court could do nothing else but vacate the prior court’s order allowing the amended complaint.
The trial court correctly dismissed the amended complaint because Frank Capone’s personal injury claim had abated upon his death and Karen Capone was required to file a separate Wrongful Death claim, which she did not do prior to the expiration of the two-year statute of limitation for that cause of action. The trial court also correctly vacated the prior order as Capone’s Motion for Reconsideration *37was not timely filed.4
Affirmed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Capone v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., 116 So. 3d 363 (Fla. 2013)…CANADY, J., dissenting. Because I conclude that the decision on review, Capone v. Philip Morris U.S.A., Inc., 56 So. 3d 34 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010), does not expressly and directly conflict with Niemi v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 862 So. 2d 31 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003), I would dismiss this case for lack of jurisdiction under article V, section 3(b)(3), of the Florida Consti…1 / 2
-
Roden v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 145 So. 3d 183 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)…In October 2011, after a hearing on the issues, the trial court judge entered an order granting the tobacco companies’ motion to dismiss. The order stated “that Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is Granted based on FS 768.20 and Capone v. Philip Morris, 56 So. 3d 34 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011)[sic] and Niemi v. Brown & Williamson, 862 So. 2d 31 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003).” Roden appeals this order, raising two issues: (1) whether a wrongful death claim must be brought as a new and separate cause of action when a plaintiff dies…1 / 2
-
Ruble v. Rinker Material Corp., 59 So. 3d 137 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011)…action pending at the time of death shall abate”); Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.260(a)(1) (stating that the court may order substitution of the proper parties “[i]f a party dies and the claim is not thereby extinguished”); Capone v. Philip Morris U.S.A. Inc., 56 So. 3d 34 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010) (“The original complaint for personal injury could not be amended, on [the plaintiff’s] death, to include a new wrongful death claim because Florida law establishes that a personal injury claim is extin [*138] guished upon the dea…
Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Howard A. Engle, M.D. v. Liggett Grp., Inc., 945 So. 2d 1246 (Fla. 2006)
- Martin v. United Sec. Servs., Inc., 314 So. 2d 765 (Fla. 1975)
- Niemi v. Niemi, 862 So. 2d 31 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003)
- ACandS, Inc. v. Redd, 703 So. 2d 492 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)