Our previews of the newest additions to the Illinois Supreme Court’s civil docket continue with Estate of Powell v. John C. Wunsch, P.C., a case from the Third Division of the First District which poses this question: does the lawyer who brings a wrongful death action owe a duty of care to the next of kin, or only to the estate?
The plaintiff in Estate of Powell was adjudicated disabled by the circuit court in 1997. His parents were appointed to serve as co-guardians of his person, but not as guardians of his estate. The plaintiff’s father died two years later, and his mother retained the defendants to bring a wrongful death action. Nearly two years later, the mother successfully petitioned to have herself appointed as special administratrix of the father’s estate. The petition named the mother, the plaintiff and his sister as the father’s next of kin.
In January 2005, the mother petitioned for approval of an initial settlement for $15,000 with certain defendants. The circuit court approved the settlement, with each of the three next of kin receiving $5,000. The remainder of the defendants settled in November of that year for $350,000. The second settlement was approved, with the mother and the plaintiff splitting the funds (the sister had waived her rights to any of the second settlement proceeds).
Three years later, the plaintiff’s sister became concerned about the plaintiff’s well-being. Believing that their mother was no longer capable of caring for the plaintiff, she petitioned to have the mother removed as guardian, or in the alternative, for an order appointing the sister as co-guardian. The petition also claimed that the plaintiff’s half of the settlement funds were deposited in a joint bank account, and were not being expended towards his care. In the summer of 2009, the probate court entered orders removing the mother, making the sister plenary guardian of the plaintiff’s person, and appointing the public guardian as guardian of the plaintiff’s estate.
The public guardian filed Estate of Powell, a malpractice claim against the lawyers who handled the wrongful death claim. The theory was that the lawyers had breached a duty to the plaintiff by failing to ensure that his share of the two settlements was distributed through the probate court pursuant to section 2.1 of the Wrongful Death Act (740 ILCS 180/2.1), and accordingly plaintiff had lost access to those funds. The defendants successfully moved to dismiss on the grounds that they owed the plaintiff no duty, since he was not their client.
The Appellate Court reversed in part. A duty of care, the Court wrote, could arise in two situations: (1) the plaintiff had an attorney-client relationship with the defendants; or (2) he was an intended beneficiary of such a relationship. The Court concluded that the Wrongful Death Act established that all next of kin are the intended beneficiaries of a wrongful death action, which is brought "for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse and next of kin of such a deceased person." 740 ILCS 180/2. The Act requires that the action be brought in the name of the decedent’s personal representative, but the courts have recognized for many years that the claims are in fact those of the individual beneficiaries – here, the plaintiff, his sister and mother. Accordingly, the defendants owed the plaintiff a duty of care.
The Court turned next to the proximate cause element of the cause of action. The court noted that the Probate Act requires that a guardian be appointed, and funds be distributed under the Court’s supervision, for any settlement in excess of $5,000. The first settlement did not exceed $5,000, so the Probate Act didn’t apply, and the plaintiff’s cause of action failed. But the second settlement did exceed the statutory threshold. Therefore, the Court held, that complaint sufficiently pled three negligent omissions with respect to the second of the two wrongful death settlements: (1) failing to petition the probate court to appoint a guardian of the plaintiff’s estate to receive his share; (2) failing to notify the court that the plaintiff’s mother was receiving control of his share without probate authority; and (3) failing to protect the plaintiff’s interest when they knew he would be unable to do so himself.
We expect Estate of Powell to be decided in the next six to eight months.