Tolbert v. Maner

Sears, Justice.

Certiorari was granted to review the Court of Appeals’ decision in Tolbert v. Maner, 233 Ga. App. 611 (504 SE2d 772) (1998) that the descendant of a child who predeceased a parent is entitled to recover in a wrongful death action filed by the deceased parent’s surviving children. Our consideration of the Wrongful Death Act leads us to conclude that the statutory right to bring an action for wrongful death enures only to the decedent’s spouse and children who are living at the time the action accrues. As the Act makes clear, only when a decedent’s child is an original claimant…