Nealis v. Baird

¶ 1 This court granted certiorari to settle the first impression question whether a claim may be brought under Oklahoma’s wrongful death statute1 on behalf of a nonviable fetus *442born alive. We are asked to decide whether the trial court committed reversible error by instructing the jury that damages are recoverable only if the deceased was a viable fetus or child at the time of his birth. We answer this question in the affirmative. Although we reach the same result as that of the Court of Civil Appeals, we vacate that court’s opinion to provide a precedential ruling on a question of…