Julie M. Steinlage, Trustee for the Heirs of Dolores May Smith v. Mayo Clinic Rochester, a Minnesota Corporation

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• finding that the estate does not benefit from a wrongful death damage award, although the award may include funeral expenses and expenses related to support of the decedent prior to death
• applying Tank, although Minnesota’s statute is similar to West Virginia’s, in that it provides that personal injury actions commenced before death are essentially converted into wrongful death actions
• “[UJpon death, the right to ... institute new actions based on personal injury[ ] belongfs] to the wrongful death trustee.”
• “In Minnesota, a statutory wrongful death trustee [the person appointed to bring a wrongful death claim] is not a personal representative of the decedent.”
• “[U]nder current Minnesota law, only a court-appointed wrongful death trustee may maintain a wrongful death action, and the wrongful death trustee does not represent the estate of the decedent.”
• “A Minnesota wrongful death trustee is a representative of a decedent’s surviving spouse, next of kin, and certain enumerated creditors, but not a representative of a decedent’s estate as required by the plain language of § 1332(c)(2

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).