{
  "id": 8523735,
  "name": "JACKSON N. EVANS, Administrator of the Estate of JACKSON EDWARD EVANS, Plaintiff v. ROSE MARIE EVANS DIAZ, Defendant",
  "name_abbreviation": "Evans v. Diaz",
  "decision_date": "1992-02-18",
  "docket_number": "No. 9122SC179",
  "first_page": "436",
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T19:24:40.355340+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges EAGLES and ORR concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "JACKSON N. EVANS, Administrator of the Estate of JACKSON EDWARD EVANS, Plaintiff v. ROSE MARIE EVANS DIAZ, Defendant"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "JOHNSON, Judge.\nBoth parties to this action concede that the controlling issue before this Court is \u201cwhether the plaintiff estate is barred from recovery for wrongful death against the defendant by virtue of the fact that the defendant was the sole [heir or beneficiary of the estate] of Jackson Edward Evans, the deceased.\u201d The trial court found that the plaintiff estate was barred from recovery. We disagree.\nIn Carver v. Carver, 310 N.C. 669, 314 S.E.2d 739 (1984), the Supreme Court held that where recovery in a wrongful death action depends on establishing liability of a party who is the sole beneficiary of the decedent\u2019s estate, the action may not be brought at all. Plaintiff contends, however, that this general rule does not apply because the renouncement of right to inherit, executed by defendant in favor of Jackson\u2019s two surviving sisters, relates back to the time of the decedent\u2019s death and causes decedent\u2019s two sisters to be his only heirs.\nConsidering plaintiff\u2019s argument, the issue then becomes whether the rights of claimants to wrongful death proceeds are to be determined at the time of the decedent\u2019s death or some later time. This issue was addressed in Davenport v. Patrick, 227 N.C. 686, 44 S.E.2d 203 (1947), where the administrator of the estate of the deceased wife brought a wrongful death action against the intestate\u2019s husband for his negligent operation of a motor vehicle. The husband was the sole beneficiary. The Court, denying recovery, held that \u201c[t]he rights of claimants to the proceeds recovered in an action for wrongful death are determined as of the time of the intestate\u2019s death[,]\u201d and \u201c[a]t the time of the death of the plaintiff\u2019s intestate, the defendant was and still remains the sole beneficiary[.]\u201d Id. at 688, 44 S.E.2d at 205. The case at bar, however, can be distinguished from Davenport in that the defendant, Rose Diaz, does not still remain Jackson\u2019s sole heir.\nGeneral Statute \u00a7 31B-3(a) provides, in pertinent part, that when there is a renunciation, \u201c[ujnless the decedent or donee of the power has otherwise provided in the instrument creating the interest, the property or interest renounced devolves as if the renouncer had predeceased the decedent[.]\u201d The statute also further mandates that the \u201crenunciation relates back for all purposes to the date of the death of the decedent or the donee of the power.\u201d (Emphasis added.)\nApplying G.S. \u00a7 31B-3(a) to the facts of the case sub judice, Rose Diaz was deemed to have predeceased her son when she filed the renunciation of the right to inherit. Furthermore, defendant\u2019s renunciation related back to the time of the decedent\u2019s death, which is also the time for determining the rights of claimants to the proceeds recovered in a wrongful death action. Therefore, under the Intestate Succession Act, G.S. \u00a7 29-15(4), the decedent\u2019s only heirs at the time of his death were Angela Evans and Dollie Diaz. Defendant is not a beneficiary in this wrongful death action, and the relation-back mandate of G.S. \u00a7 31B-3(a) signifies that defendant never had legal title to the proceeds or interests of the plaintiff estate. See Hinson v. Hinson, 80 N.C. App. 561, 569, 343 S.E.2d 266, 271 (1986) (Renouncer never actually holds legal title to the property.). Accordingly, the plaintiff estate should not be barred from recovery on the basis that the alleged wrongdoer, Rose Diaz, was Jackson\u2019s sole heir at the time of his death.\nWe do not believe that this decision contravenes public policy. The record shows no evidence that defendant received any fraudulent benefit from the renunciation, and absent such evidence, her motivation for renouncing is immaterial. See Reese v. Carson, 3 N.C. App. 99, 164 S.E.2d 99 (1968). We, therefore, hold that under the facts of this case the renunciation and the relation-back mandate of G.S. \u00a7 31B-3(a) change the result and distinguish this case from Davenport and Carver where no renunciations were filed and recovery was denied.\nReversed and remanded for entry of judgment pursuant to the amended stipulation of the parties.\nJudges EAGLES and ORR concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "JOHNSON, Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Joel C. Harbinson for plaintiff-administrator.",
      "Patrick, Harper & Dixon, by Stephen M. Thomas, for defendant-appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "JACKSON N. EVANS, Administrator of the Estate of JACKSON EDWARD EVANS, Plaintiff v. ROSE MARIE EVANS DIAZ, Defendant\nNo. 9122SC179\n(Filed 18 February 1992)\nDeath \u00a7 23 (NCI4th| \u2014 automobile accident \u2014death of child \u2014 mother as sole beneficiary \u2014 mother\u2019s renunciation \u2014wrongful death action against mother\nDefendant mother\u2019s renunciation of her right to inherit from her son in favor of the son\u2019s two sisters related back to the time of the son\u2019s death pursuant to N.C.G.S. \u00a7 31B-3(a), and defendant mother is deemed to have predeceased her son. Therefore, the son\u2019s estate was not barred from recovery against the mother for the wrongful death of the son in an automobile accident on the ground that the alleged wrongdoer was the son\u2019s sole heir at the time of his death.\nAm Jur 2d, Death \u00a7 165.\nFact that tortfeasor is member of class of beneficiaries as affecting right to maintain action for wrongful death. 95 ALR2d 585.\nAppeal by plaintiff-administrator from order entered 17 January 1991 by Judge Preston C. Cornelius in ALEXANDER County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 14 November 1991.\nOn 16 October 1988, defendant Rose Marie Evans Diaz was driving an automobile involved in an accident wherein her son, Jackson Edward Evans, died. Jackson was survived by his mother and his two sisters, Angela Marie Evans and Dollie Victoria Diaz. No father\u2019s name appears on Jackson\u2019s birth certificate, and he was never legitimated or adopted.\nOn 12 January 1990, defendant Diaz, the sole heir to Jackson\u2019s estate, filed with the clerk of court in Alexander County, the renouncement of a right to qualify and renouncement of a right to inherit. The renouncement of the right to inherit was in favor of Angela and Dollie. Contemporaneously, Jackson N. Evans, defendant\u2019s father and Jackson\u2019s grandfather, applied for letters of administration of the estate of Jackson and was appointed as administrator on 16 January 1990. On 15 February 1990, Jackson N. Evans, as administrator, brought the wrongful death action against defendant, contending that the death of Jackson was caused by the negligence of defendant.\nJoel C. Harbinson for plaintiff-administrator.\nPatrick, Harper & Dixon, by Stephen M. Thomas, for defendant-appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0436-01",
  "first_page_order": 464,
  "last_page_order": 467
}