Brown

Terry Y. Brown and Barbara L. Whisenant, as executors of the estate of Brenda Lu McNeil, appeal an adverse summary judgment entered in their wrongful death action against Dr. Nainamohamed A. Rahman. The court found that because Rahman had been adjudged not liable in McNeil’s personal injury action, her heirs were collaterally estopped from relitigating the issue of the doctor’s liability. We agree and affirm accordingly.

I.

McNeil sued Rahman and Dr. Charles Crusinberry for medical malpractice. On appeal, a jury verdict in Rahman’s favor was affirmed; a verdict against Crusinberry was reversed and the matter was remanded for a new trial.

McNeil died while the appeal was pending. Brown and Whisenant, as executors, filed the underlying wrongful death action against Rahman and Crusinberry on behalf of McNeil’s husband and parents. The lawsuit was based on the same acts of negligence alleged in the malpractice suit.

II.

Code of Civil Procedure section 377, California’s wrongful death statute, confers a cause of action on the heirs of an injured person independent of that person’s claim for personal injuries. (Earley v. Pacific Electric Ry. Co. (1917) 176 Cal. 79, 81-82 […