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To establish negligence in a wrongful death action, plaintiff must show:

1. Defendant owed a legal duty to the decedent;
2. Defendant breached that duty;
3. Defendant’s breach was the proximate cause of death; and
4. Damages.

See Florida Wrongful Death Act: § 768.16 – § 786.26 Fla. Stat.

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To establish negligence in a wrongful death action, plaintiff must show:

1. Defendant owed a legal duty to the decedent;
2. Defendant breached that duty;
3. Defendant’s breach was the proximate cause of death; and
4. Damages.

See Florida Wrongful Death Act: § 768.16 – § 786.26 Fla. Stat.

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FLORIDA STATE COURTS

First District: Jenkins v. W.L. Roberts, Inc., 851 So.2d 781, 783 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003).

Second District: Estate of Rotell v. Kuehnle, 38 So.3d 783, 788 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010).

Third District: Burley v. Village South, Inc., 407 So. 3d 572, 576-77 (Fla. 3d DCA 2025); Tieder v. Little, 502 So.2d 923, 925 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987).

Fourth District: Healthcare Underwriters Grp., Inc. v. Sanford, 2022 WL 945529, *2-3 (Fla. 4th DCA Mar. 30, 2022).

Fifth District: Domino’s Pizza, LLC v. Wiederhold, 248 So. 3d 212, 219-20 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018) (concluding that plaintiff’s right of action under wrongful death statute must be determined by facts existing at time of decedent’s death not time of decedent’s injury).

FLORIDA FEDERAL COURTS

Eleventh Circuit: Colon v. Twitter, Inc., 14 F. 4th 1213, 1223 (11th Cir. 2021).

Southern District: Marles v. United States, No. 23-CV-80911, 2024 WL 4881240, at *4 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 25, 2024); Phelps v. Delphi Behav. Health Grp., LLC, 2023 WL 2069791, *2 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 17, 2023); Dome v. Celebrity Cruises Inc., 2022 WL 970861, *8 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 30, 2022); Alexander v. Loar, No. 16-14422, 2017 WL 4324817, at *7 (S.D. Fla. June 7, 2017).

Middle District: Est. of Jennings v. Gulfshore Priv. Home Care, LLC, No. 2:19-CV-72-FTM-38NPM, 2020 WL 2766132, at *2 (M.D. Fla. May 28, 2020); Joseph v. Chronister, No. 8:16-CV-274-T-35CPT, 2019 WL 8014507, at *3 (M.D. Fla. 2019).

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2 Defenses to Claim for Wrongful Death

(1) Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.110(d) (pleading affirmative defenses), and other standard defenses. See Chapter 1.

(2) Statute of Limitations: § 95.11(4)(d), Fla. Stat. (two years). but see Thomas v. City of Jacksonville,  No. 3:13-cv-737-J-32MCR, 2017 WL 3316478, at *8 (M.D. Fla. Aug. 3 2017). (stating “Claims for wrongful death brought against a natural person for an intentional tort resulting in death from acts described in s. 782.04 (murder) or s. 782.07 (manslaughter) may be commenced at any time.”).

(3) Florida Wrongful Death Act: § 786.16 – § 786.26, Fla. Stat.

(4) Contributory Negligence: The decedent’s contributory negligence may set off the award of economic damages. Horton v. Channing, 698 So.2d 865, 866 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997); Cody v. Kernaghan, 682 So.2d 1147, 1148 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996).

(5) Committing Felony: Where the decedent dies while committing a felony, no recovery is permitted. See § 776.085(1), Fla. Stat.

(6) Personal Representative: Only the personal representative of the decent may bring a wrongful death action, for the benefit of the decedent’s survivors and estate. See Linder v. DDR Realty Corp., 2015 WL 12791480, at *1 (S.D. Fla. May 12, 2015); Williams v. Infinity Ins. Co., 745 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999); § 768.20, Fla. Stat.

(7) Fetus: An unborn fetus is not a “person” under the Florida Wrongful Death Act. See Duncan v. Flynn, 358 So.2d 178, 178 (Fla. 1978).

(8) The duty element of negligence is a threshold legal question; if no legal duty exists, then no action for negligence may lie. See Jenkins v. W.L. Roberts, Inc., 851 So.2d 781, 783 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003).

(9) Employers in compliance with the Worker’s Compensation Law are immune from claims for wrongful death, unless an intentional tort exception applies. § 440.11, Fla. Stat.; Ramsey v. Dewitt Excavating, Inc., 248 So.3d 1270, 1272 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018).

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