Amanda Peters v. GIRL SCOUTS OF SOUTHWEST INDIANA, INC.

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided February 28, 2024·No. 23A-CT-01342·Published

Opinion

FILED

Feb 28 2024, 8:48 am

CLERK

Indiana Supreme Court

Court of Appeals

and Tax Court

IN THE

Court of Appeals of Indiana Amanda Peters, as Natural Parent of Isabelle Meyer, Deceased, Appellant-Plaintiff

v.

Girl Scouts of Southwest Indiana, Inc., Girl Scouts of the United States of America, Inc., Benjamin Brassard, and Cynthia Meyer, Appellees-Defendants

February 28, 2024

Court of Appeals Case No.

23A-CT-1342

Appeal from the Perry Circuit Court The Honorable M. Lucy Goffinet, Judge Trial Court Cause No.

62C01-2007-CT-279

Opinion by Judge Tavitas

Judges Pyle and Foley concur.

Tavitas, Judge.

Case Summary [1] In this interlocutory appeal, Amanda Peters (“Mother”) appeals the trial court’s

dismissal of Benjamin Brassard (“Father”) and Cynthia Meyer (“Grandmother”) from a Child Wrongful Death Statute (“CWDS”) action brought by Mother against the Girl Scouts of Southwest Indiana (“Girl Scouts”). 1 The trial court dismissed Father’s and Grandmother’s claims based upon their failure to file claims within the two-year period prescribed by the CWDS, but Mother argues that the trial court abused its discretion by doing so. We conclude that Father and Grandmother failed to file timely claims, and accordingly, we affirm.

Issue [2] Although Mother raises multiple issues, we address the following dispositive

issue, which we restate as whether Father’s and Grandmother’s claims were untimely under the CWDS.

Facts [3] The facts here are undisputed. Eleven-year-old Isabelle Meyer tragically died

on June 24, 2019, after a tree fell and struck her at a camp operated by the Girl

1 In November 2022, Mother settled her CWDS claim against the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, Inc. Girl Scouts of the United States of America, Inc., was thereafter dismissed from the action with prejudice by the parties’ agreement in February 2023 and is not a party to this appeal.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 23A-CT-1342 | February 28, 2024 Page 2 of 19

Scouts in Perry County. At the time, Grandmother and her husband, Stanley Meyer, were the court-appointed guardians of Isabelle.

[4] On July 10, 2020, Mother, as natural parent and personal representative of Isabelle’s estate, filed a complaint against the Girl Scouts pursuant to the CWDS. The trial court later granted Mother’s motion to amend the complaint to remove references to Mother as personal representative.

[5] In October 2020, the Girl Scouts filed a motion to dismiss Mother’s action due to Mother’s failure to join a party needed for just adjudication under the CWDS and Indiana Trial Rule 19. The Girl Scouts argued that Mother failed to join Father in the CWDS action, that Father was an indispensable person, and that the action was subject to dismissal as a result of Mother’s failure.

[6] In response, on November 17, 2020, Mother requested permission to file a second amended complaint to add Father as a defendant in the action, pursuant to the CWDS, which the trial court granted. Service was not perfected upon Father until July 2021; Father filed an answer on August 9, 2021. The trial court then denied the Girl Scouts’ motion to dismiss.

[7] On June 8, 2022, Mother requested permission to file a third amended complaint to add Grandmother as a defendant in the action due to her guardianship of Isabelle; the trial court granted the motion. 2 Grandmother

2 Grandmother’s husband was co-guardian, but he was not added to the action.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 23A-CT-1342 | February 28, 2024 Page 3 of 19 never filed an answer to the third amended complaint and has never appeared in the action. On July 8, 2022, the Girl Scouts filed a motion to dismiss Grandmother. The Girl Scouts argued that: (1) Grandmother is not an appropriate defendant under the CWDS; (2) Grandmother failed to make a claim within the two-year statute of limitations; and (3) Mother’s addition of Grandmother as a defendant long after the statute of limitations expired did not preserve Grandmother’s claim. Mother responded that Grandmother’s claim was allowed under the CWDS and that Grandmother’s claim was not subject to the statute of limitations because Mother’s complaint was timely filed.

[8] The Girl Scouts then filed a motion to dismiss Father in August 2022. The Girl Scouts argued that Father failed to timely assert his claim pursuant to the CWDS because he did not pursue an action himself and did not file his answer to Mother’s complaint until forty-six days after the statute of limitations expired. Accordingly, the Girl Scouts argued that Father’s claim under the CWDS should be dismissed. In response, Mother argued that Father’s claim was derivative of Mother’s claim and that it was, thus, timely.

[9] On May 5, 2023, the trial court granted the Girl Scouts’ motions to dismiss Father and Grandmother. Mother filed a motion to certify the order for interlocutory appeal under Indiana Appellate Rule 14, which the trial court granted. We accepted interlocutory jurisdiction, and Mother now appeals. 3

3 We held oral argument in this matter on January 24, 2024. We thank counsel for their presentations.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 23A-CT-1342 | February 28, 2024 Page 4 of 19

Discussion I. Standing

[10] Before addressing the issues raised by the parties, we must note our concerns with the odd procedural posture in this case. Below, Grandmother did not enter an appearance in this action, and Father filed only an appearance and answer. Neither Father nor Grandmother responded to the motions to dismiss. Father and Grandmother are automatically parties to this appeal pursuant to Indiana Appellate Rule 17(A). Neither, however, has filed an appearance or presented arguments on appeal.

[11] Although the order at issue dismissed Father and Grandmother, the Notice of Appeal was filed by Mother’s counsel. Throughout the Appellant’s Brief, Mother identifies herself as the Appellant, but all of Mother’s arguments on appeal relate to the dismissal of Grandmother’s and Father’s claims; none of the arguments on appeal relate to Mother’s claims. We note that the standing doctrine “focuses on whether the complaining party is the proper person to invoke the court’s power.” Campbell v. El Dee Apartments, 701 N.E.2d 616, 621 (Ind. Ct. App. 1998). “The standing rule bars litigants from asserting the right or legal interests of others in order to obtain relief from injury themselves.” Id.; see also Hoosier Contractors, LLC v. Gardner, 212 N.E.3d 1234, 1238 (Ind. 2023) (“Indiana law is clear that standing requires an injury, which is met if the party shows it ha[s] suffered or [is] in immediate danger of suffering a direct injury as a result of the complained-of conduct.”) (internal citations and quotations omitted). Accordingly, it is unclear how Mother can assert the rights or legal interests of Father and Grandmother in this matter.

[12] As for the absence of an appearance for Father or Grandmother in this matter, at the oral argument, Mother’s counsel asserted that he also represents Father and Grandmother. See Peters v. Girl Scouts of Southwest Indiana, Inc., et al., 23A- CT-1342, Jan. 24, 2024 Oral Argument at 4:23, 6:03. Counsel’s appearance in this appeal, as shown in part below, however, does not indicate that he represents Father or Grandmother.

Id., June 15, 2023 Appearance by Attorney. 4 In her Reply Brief, Mother asserts that “there is no impropriety associated with [Mother, Father, and Grandmother’s] determination that their interests are best advanced collectively at this stage of the proceedings . . . .” Appellant’s Reply Br. p. 10. It is unclear, however, how counsel could represent Mother—the plaintiff—and also

4 Given counsel’s appearance for Mother only, we are perplexed by counsel’s statement at oral argument that he represents Mother, Father, and Grandmother.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 23A-CT-1342 | February 28, 2024 Page 6 of 19 represent Father and Grandmother—who are defendants in this litigation. See Ind. Prof. Conduct Rule 1.7. 5

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