Deaver v. Faucon Properties, Inc.

239 S.W.3d 525, 367 Ark. 288, 2006 Ark. LEXIS 442
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 21, 2006
Docket06-320
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 239 S.W.3d 525 (Deaver v. Faucon Properties, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Deaver v. Faucon Properties, Inc., 239 S.W.3d 525, 367 Ark. 288, 2006 Ark. LEXIS 442 (Ark. 2006).

Opinion

Jim Gunter, Justice.

Appellant Ronny Deaver, as administrator for the Estate of Faye Deaver, appeals the circuit court’s order striking and dismissing his complaint with prejudice for failing properly to revive Faye Deaver’s claims after her death. We hold that the action was properly revived under Arkansas law, and we reverse the order of the circuit court.

On November 1, 2002, Faye Deaver and her son, Ronny Deaver, filed a complaint against the appellees: St. Andrews Nursing Home, various entities that owned the nursing home, and the administrator of the nursing home. The complaint alleged breach of contract, negligence, and res' ipsa loquitur. Faye died on May 3, 2003.

On October 28, 2003, appellant filed a pleading styled as follows: “PLAINTIFFS’ SUGGESTION OF DEATH UPON THE RECORD, MOTION FOR APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL ADMINISTRATOR, AND REQUEST FOR ORDER OF SUBSTITUTING PARTIES.’’Appellant stated in this pleading that Faye had died, and he attached a death certificate. He also requested, pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 25, the circuit court to appoint him as the special administrator for his mother with the power to prosecute the case on behalf of her estate and to order a substitution of the proper parties. In an order entered November 5, 2003, the circuit court appointed appellant as the special administrator for his mother, Faye, “with the power to prosecute this case on behalf of the Estate of Faye Deaver and its beneficiaries,” and also ordered “a substitution of the Special Administrator as the proper party to pursue this case on behalf of the Estate of Faye Deaver and its beneficiaries.”

On March 7, 2005, appellant, acting individually and as administrator of his mother’s estate, filed an amended complaint, reasserting the breach-of-contract and negligence claims, deleting any reference to res ipsa loquitur, and alleging a violation of the Arkansas Long-Term Care Facility Resident’s Rights statutes. See Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-12-1201 to 1209 (Repl. 2005). The appellees moved to strike, asserting that appellant had “neither petitioned for nor received an order of revival as required by Ark. Code Ann. § 16-62-108.” They argued further that because more than one year had passed since Faye’s death, the complaint must be dismissed with prejudice pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 16-62-109. The circuit court granted the motion and dismissed the complaint with prejudice.

Appellant appealed to the Arkansas Court of Appeals, which reversed the circuit court’s decision in Deaver v. Faucon Properties, Inc., 94 Ark. App. 370, 231 S.W.3d 100 (2006). We granted appellees’ petition for review pursuant to Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 2-4 (2005). When this court grants a petition for review of a decision of the court of appeals, it reviews the case as though it had originally been filed in the Arkansas Supreme Court. Ark. Sup. Ct. R. l-2(e); Crudup v. Regal Ware, Inc., 341 Ark. 804, 20 S.W.3d 900 (2000).

This case requires us to construe the requirements of the revivor statutes in conjunction with Rule 25 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure. We review issues of statutory construction and the interpretation of the rules of civil procedure de novo. See Harris v. City of Fort Smith, 366 Ark. 277, 234 S.W.3d 875 (2006); JurisDictionUSA, Inc. v. Loislaw.com, Inc., 357 Ark. 403, 183 S.W.3d 560 (2004).

On appeal, appellant argues that the lawsuit was properly-revived by the circuit court’s order of November 5, 2003, appointing him special administrator for his mother and ordering substitution of parties pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 25. Therefore, he argues, the circuit court’s order striking his complaint and dismissing the lawsuit was error. Appellees respond, arguing that appellant failed properly to revive the action of Faye Deaver because he never obtained an “order to revive” in accordance with the revivor statutes, specifically citing Ark. Code Ann. §§ 16-62-105, 108, and 109. Appellees argue that an order pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 25 is “insufficient to revive an action pursuant to the mandate of Ark. Code Ann. § 16-62-105.”

I. Historical Overview

In order to determine whether this action was properly revived under Arkansas law, a brief overview of the law of revivor — and survival, which is often confused with revivor — is helpful. Revival refers to the continuation of an “action” upon the death of a party; survival refers to the continuation, or survival, of a “cause of action” upon the death of the injured party. See Black’s Law Dictionary 1187, 1296 (5th ed. 1979). An “action” is an ordinary judicial proceeding. See In re Martindale, 327 Ark. 685, 689, 940 S.W.2d 491, 493 (1997); Black’s Law Dictionary 26 (5th ed. 1979). In Arkansas, “civil actions” embrace all actions formerly denominated “suits” in equity and “actions” at law. Ark. R. Civ. P. 2; see also Black’s Law Dictionary 26 (5th ed. 1979). A “cause of action” is the set of facts that gives rise to the judicial proceeding. See Black’s Law Dictionary 201 (5th ed. 1979). Therefore, the cause of action is born when certain facts occur that entitle the plaintiff to relief, and the action occurs when a complaint based upon those facts is filed with a court. Ark. R. Civ. P. 3.

“The substitution of a new party to proceed with the prosecution or defense of a claim is the revivor of an action. The death of a party to a legal proceeding, where the cause of action survives, suspends the action as to decedent until someone is substituted for decedent as a party.” 1 C.J.S. Abatement and Revival § 155 (emphasis added); see also Anglin v. Cravens, 76 Ark. 122, 124, 88 S.W. 833, 834 (1905) (“[w]hen the plaintiff dies during the pendency of the action, any person interested in the further prosecution thereof may have a revivor in the name of the administrator or executor, if there be such, and the right of action be one that survives in favor of the personal representative”).

“When the suit is revived,” said this court in the early case of Bentley v. Dickson, 1 Ark. 165, “all the pleadings stand in the same attitude as if they had never been abated by death. The names only are changed upon the record, and it is a legal fiction by which the writ, declaration, plea, and other proceedings are all considered as there standing in the name of the executor or administrator.”

Vandiever v. Conditt, 110 Ark. 311, 162 S.W. 47 (1913) (emphasis added). “An action cannot be revived unless the cause of action survives. However, the survival of a cause of action [internal citation omitted] and the revival of an action are different in that the former is a matter of right and the latter a matter of procedure.” 1 C.J.S. Abatement and Revival § 155 (emphasis added).

In the case at bar, neither party is arguing that the cause of action has not survived. Therefore, for purposes of this appeal, we assume the cause of action has survived Ms. Deaver’s death. The question in this case is whether the action, or lawsuit, was properly revived.

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Bluebook (online)
239 S.W.3d 525, 367 Ark. 288, 2006 Ark. LEXIS 442, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deaver-v-faucon-properties-inc-ark-2006.