Florida Statute 768.21 | Lawyer Caselaw & Research

The 2024 Florida Statutes

Title XLV
TORTS

Chapter 768
NEGLIGENCE

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F.S. 768.21

768.21 Damages.—All potential beneficiaries of a recovery for wrongful death, including the decedent’s estate, shall be identified in the complaint, and their relationships to the decedent shall be alleged. Damages may be awarded as follows:

(1) Each survivor may recover the value of lost support and services from the date of the decedent’s injury to her or his death, with interest, and future loss of support and services from the date of death and reduced to present value. In evaluating loss of support and services, the survivor’s relationship to the decedent, the amount of the decedent’s probable net income available for distribution to the particular survivor, and the replacement value of the decedent’s services to the survivor may be considered. In computing the duration of future losses, the joint life expectancies of the survivor and the decedent and the period of minority, in the case of healthy minor children, may be considered.

(2) The surviving spouse may also recover for loss of the decedent’s companionship and protection and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury.

(3) Minor children of the decedent, and all children of the decedent if there is no surviving spouse, may also recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. For the purposes of this subsection, if both spouses die within 30 days of one another as a result of the same wrongful act or series of acts arising out of the same incident, each spouse is considered to have been predeceased by the other.

(4) Each parent of a deceased minor child may also recover for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. Each parent of an adult child may also recover for mental pain and suffering if there are no other survivors.

(5) Medical or funeral expenses due to the decedent’s injury or death may be recovered by a survivor who has paid them.

(6) The decedent’s personal representative may recover for the decedent’s estate the following:

(a) Loss of earnings of the deceased from the date of injury to the date of death, less lost support of survivors excluding contributions in kind, with interest. Loss of the prospective net accumulations of an estate, which might reasonably have been expected but for the wrongful death, reduced to present money value, may also be recovered:

1. If the decedent’s survivors include a surviving spouse or lineal descendants; or

2. If the decedent is not a minor child as defined in s. 768.18(2), there are no lost support and services recoverable under subsection (1), and there is a surviving parent.

(b) Medical or funeral expenses due to the decedent’s injury or death that have become a charge against her or his estate or that were paid by or on behalf of decedent, excluding amounts recoverable under subsection (5).

Evidence of remarriage of the decedent’s spouse is admissible.

(7) All awards for the decedent’s estate are subject to the claims of creditors who have complied with the requirements of probate law concerning claims.

(8) The damages specified in subsection (3) shall not be recoverable by adult children and the damages specified in subsection (4) shall not be recoverable by parents of an adult child with respect to claims for medical negligence as defined by s. 766.106(1).

History.—s. 1, ch. 72-35; s. 2, ch. 81-183; s. 1, ch. 85-260; s. 2, ch. 90-14; s. 1169, ch. 97-102; s. 1, ch. 2002-44; s. 66, ch. 2003-416; s. 163, ch. 2020-2.

F.S. 768.21 on Google Scholar

F.S. 768.21 on Casetext

Amendments to 768.21

Arrestable Offenses / Crimes under Fla. Stat. 768.21

Level: Degree
Misdemeanor/Felony: First/Second/Third

Current data shows no reason an arrest or criminal charge should have occurred directly under Florida Statute 768.21.

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 768.21

Total Results: 20

Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company v. Bryan Rintoul, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Edward Caprio

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2024-10-23

Snippet: recover damages as a ‘surviving spouse’ under section 768.21(2).” 385 So. 3d at 1024. Consistent with our

CITY OF SARASOTA, OFFICER JUAN JAIMES v. ESTATE OF JOHN KAAFI, SOUCY

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2024-08-14

Snippet: " § 768.20. To assist a defendant, section 768.21 identifies the damages allowable and requires

Jennifer Ripple, etc. v. CBS Corporation

Court: Supreme Court of Florida | Date Filed: 2024-05-09

Snippet: Jennifer Ripple’s claim for damages under section 768.21(2) of the Florida Wrongful Death Act (the Act)

William Marvin Douberley v. Harold Peerenboom

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2023-12-13

Snippet: supplied). The key to the proper analysis of section 768.21(1) is that the Legislature has never adopted a

GEORGE GOMEZ v. PHILIP MORRIS USA INC., etc.

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2023-01-25

Snippet: recover only if there is no surviving spouse. §768.21 (3), Fla. Stat. A finding that the estate can

Brinda Coates, etc. v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

Court: Supreme Court of Florida | Date Filed: 2023-01-05

Snippet: beneficiaries, not the decedent, see §§ 768.18, 768.21, Fla. Stat. (1997). As explained above,

PHILIP MORRIS USA INC. and R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO COMPANY v. BRYAN RINTOUL, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Edward Caprio

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2022-05-11

Snippet: when and who can file claims under the law. See § 768.21, Fla. Stat. (2022). No matter how sympathetic

HEALTHCARE UNDERWRITERS GROUP, INC., AMARNATH VEDERE, M.D. and CARDIOLOGY PARTNERS, P.L. v. DEBORAH SANFORD, as Personal Representative of the ESTATE OF GERALD L. SANFORD

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2022-03-30

Snippet: indicates that a minor child’s recovery under section 768.21(3) should be measured by the joint life expectancy

JENNIFER RIPPLE, as Personal Representative of the ESTATE OF RICHARD D. COUNTER v. BENNET AUTO SUPPLY

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2022-03-30

Snippet: and for mental pain and suffering” under section 768.21(2) of the Wrongful Death Act. The estate’s alternative

Mary E. Sheffield, etc. v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

Court: Supreme Court of Florida | Date Filed: 2021-11-18

Snippet: Fla. Stat., [and] its own panoply of remedies, § 768.21, Fla. Stat.” Not surprisingly, then, this

SANDRA SANTIAGO AND NORMA CACERES, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ESTATE OF RAMONA REYES v. FRANCISCO A. RODRIGUEZ, MD

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2019-10-18

Snippet: declaration regarding the constitutionality of section 768.21(8), Florida Statutes (2017). That statute excludes

Philip Morris USA v. Gloger

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2019-03-20

Citation: 273 So. 3d 1046

Snippet: pain and suffering from the date of injury.” § 768.21(2), Fla. Stat. (2018) (emphasis added); see also

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Diane Schleider, Etc.

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2018-12-26

Citation: 273 So. 3d 63

Snippet: surviving spouse, surviving minor child, or both. § 768.21(1)-(3), Fla. Stat. (permitting recovery for loss

Gwendolyn E. Odom, etc. v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

Court: Supreme Court of Florida | Date Filed: 2018-09-20

Citation: 254 So. 3d 268

Snippet: pain and suffering from the date of injury." § 768.21(3), Fla. Stat. (2014). Thus, an adult child twenty-five

Domino's Pizza v. Wiederhold

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2018-05-07

Citation: 248 So. 3d 212

Snippet: Sullivan, 509 So. 2d 268, 272 (Fla. 1987). Section 768.21 specifies the types of damages that may be awarded

PLANTATION GENERAL HOSPITAL LIMITED PARTNERSHIP v. DIVISION OF ADMIN. HEARINGS, BERNARD BELZI, etc.

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2018-04-04

Citation: 243 So. 3d 985

Snippet: non-economic damages. As applicable in this case, section 768.21 provides: (1) Each survivor may recover

Delgado v. Agency for Health Care Admin.

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2018-01-26

Citation: 237 So. 3d 432

Snippet: and also for funeral expenses. See §§ 768.20 & 768.21, Fla. Sta. (2016). Ultimately, the wrongful death

PHILIP MORRIS USA INC. v. BERNICE MCCALL

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2017-12-13

Snippet: injury, this remedy is a creature of statute. § 768.21(2), Fla. Stat. (2007); see also Nissan Motor Co

In Re: Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases—report No. 17-02

Court: Supreme Court of Florida | Date Filed: 2017-11-02

Citation: 228 So. 3d 531, 2017 WL 4985514

Snippet: survivors include a spouse or lineal descendant. F.S. 768.21(6)(a) (1985); Vildibill v. Johnson, 492 So.2d 1047

Kelly v. Georgia-Pacific, LLC

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida | Date Filed: 2017-02-22

Citation: 211 So. 3d 340, 2017 WL 697746, 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 2413

Snippet: mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. § 768.21, Fla. Stat. (2015). These damages “are inclusive