Smith v. Givens

This is an appeal from a judgment approving a settlement in a wrongful death action and holding, inter alia, that the decedent was the father of an illegitimate son, the sole member of the first class of beneficiaries defined in Code § 8.01-53.

Gene William Smith died of injuries sustained in a collision between two automobiles operated by Wilburn Lynn Welch and Wade Cleveland Welch. The decedent, 24 years of age and unmarried, was survived by his parents and several brothers and sisters, four of whom, viz., Raymond Smith, James Larry Smith, Sherri Lynn Smith, and Sharon Denise Smith, were…