Reed v. Frey

MOLLOY, Chief Judge.

This certiorari proceeding tests the propriety of a refusal of a trial court to grant a default judgment in a wrongful death action brought by a surviving parent. The trial court’s refusal was based upon the fact that there was pending in the same court a previously filed wrongful death action against the same defendant by a surviving spouse of the deceased.

The surviving parent, who is the petitioner here, had previously moved to intervene in the antecedent death action brought by the surviving spouse, but her motion to intervene was denied by the court on the grounds that…