In an unfortunate situation, the Georgia Supreme Court will be deciding who will recover damages from the death of a teenager involved in an accident with a police car… The parents, or the boy’s baby girl whom he never got to meet?

“The unusual legal battle has raged since October 2007, when Byron Trent Pyles, who went by Trent, died at age 16 after his automobile crash with a Locust Grove police officer. Trent had been driving to apply for a pizza parlor job when the officer’s police van veered into oncoming traffic, according to Atlanta lawyer Frederick D. Burkey, who represents Trent’s parents. The parents, Rebecca Lynne deVente and Byron Keith Pyles of Henry County, are pursuing a wrongful death action in Henry County against the officer and the city police department.”

“The problem is that another family has brought a wrongful death action against the city over Trent’s death. Five months after Trent died, another teenager, Heidi Flora, gave birth to Trent’s daughter, Allison Trent Flora.”

“Before Allison was even born, Heidi’s mother, Hannelore H. Flora, filed a declaratory judgment action against Trent’s parents, asking for a ruling that Allison is Trent’s only heir and the sole potential claimant over Trent’s death. Trent’s parents initially contested that Trent was Allison’s father but conceded that point after paternity testing was conducted during the litigation. Still, they are fighting the Floras’ claim that Allison is the sole rightful beneficiary of any wrongful death recovery.”

When the money comes, stuff gets ugly. Now I’m not going to say  too much, but I would think that these two families should be consoling each other and working together correct? I mean, regardless of what happens, these are the child’s grandparents on both sides. Will they ever be able to have a healthy relationship after this fiasco?

“State wrongful death statutes provide that a surviving spouse may recover the full value of the life of the deceased in a wrongful death action. If there’s no surviving spouse, the children of the deceased are next in line, followed by the deceased’s parents.”

“On behalf of Trent’s parents, Burkey has argued that in order for Allison to fit the definition of a surviving child under the wrongful death statute, her family needs to show that the baby was “quick” in the womb at the time of Trent’s death. Georgia case law has defined “quickening” as the point at which a fetus is first capable of moving within the mother’s womb, generally putting that time between the 10th week and the fourth month of pregnancy. Burkey argues that a just result would be one in which Trent’s parents divided any recovery in a wrongful death lawsuit with baby Allison.”

Sounds a lot trickier than I imagined. Check out the origanal article: Families Feud Over Dead Teen’s Damages

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com. SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts & federal courts throughout the country.

Popularity: 26% [?]