Florida’s Wrongful Death Act, §§ 768.16–768.26, Fla. Stat., focuses on the losses suffered by individual survivors and creates a distinct entitlement to damages for each one. Although each survivor has a separate claim for damages, they may not bring separate lawsuits. Rather, the decedent’s personal representative is the sole party with standing to file a…
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For those of us in Florida familiar with the constraints of the state’s sovereign immunity law, Florida Statute 768.28, the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 2671-2680, comes as a pleasant surprise. Under the state law, judgment damages against the state—or any of its agencies or subdivisions — are capped at $200,000 per…
Continue reading ›In Ripple v. CBS Corp., 385 So.3d 1021 (Fla. 2024), the Florida Supreme Court held that a spouse who married the decedent after the onset of the injury that caused the decedent’s death can recover damages as a “surviving spouse” under section 768.21(2) of the Florida Wrongful Death Act (the Act). That provision allows a…
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