MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT Or, In The Alternative, Summary Adjudication
Matter on calendar for Thursday, July 16, 2026, Line 10, DEFENDANT EAN HOLDINGS, LLC, ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR COMPANY OF SAN FRANCISCO, LLC's MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT Or, In The Alternative, Summary Adjudication.
1 - Defendants EAN Holdings LLC and Enterprise Rent-a-Car Company of San Francisco's unopposed motion for summary judgment is granted based on statutory standing.
A wrongful death action may be brought only by the persons identified in Code of Civil Procedure, 377.60. The statute authorizes suit by the decedent's surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and issue of deceased children. If there is no surviving issue, the action may be brought by those persons who would be entitled to the decedent's property by intestate succession. (Id., 377.60, subd. (a).) Because the cause of action is purely statutory, only those persons within the statutory class have standing to maintain the claim.
Defendant presents evidence that the decedent, a minor child, died without a spouse, domestic partner, children, or other issue. Defendant further presents evidence that the decedent's biological parents are alive, and their parental rights were never legally terminated. Plaintiff is the grandparent and legal guardian of the decedent. "Wrongful death actions are creatures of statute and the right to maintain such an action is afforded only by the Legislature. Accordingly, the use of the word 'heirs' in the wrongful death statute is to be strictly construed." (Lewis v. Regional Center of the East Bay (1985) 174 Cal.App.3d 350, 355 [citation simplified].)
A grandparent is not an heir where a parent is alive. (Id., at p. 352 [grandparents were not heirs notwithstanding that living parents and half-brother disclaimed interest in decedent's estate].) That result changes where the parents' parental rights have been terminated. (Fraizer v. Velkura (2001) 91 Cal.App.4th 942, 946.) Here, the decedents' parents' rights were not terminated. Because plaintiff lacks statutory standing to bring this wrongful death cause of action, the court grants summary judgment to the Enterprise defendants. Defendants shall prepare a proposed judgment.
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