Sindelar v. Leguia

OPINION

The plaintiff-mother, Virginia L. Sinde-lar, appeals from a Superior Court hearing justice’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant-father, Luis G. Leg-uia. She asserts that the trial justice committed error by granting summary judgment, arguing in effect, that our Wrongful Death Act recognizes an “absentee parent” exception to recovery of certain wrongful-death proceeds, and that therefore there existed genuine issues of material fact as to whether the defendant-father enjoyed a sufficient familial relationship with their decedent-son to allow him to share one-half those…