Janus v. Tarasewucz Trust and Estates 2019 Fall PDF

Preview

Summary

Trust & Estates 2019 Fall course; Casebook: Dukiminier - Case Brief and Lecture Notes...

Description

Janus v. Tarasewicz Facts:  The non-jury declaratory judgment action arose out of the death of a husband and wife.  Stanley & Theresa Janus, died after ingesting Tylenol capsules which had been laced with cyanide  Stanley was pronounced death shortly after admitted to the hospital  Theresa was placed on life support for almost 2 days before being pronounced dead  The family gathered to mourn the loss of Stanleys brother, Adam and he and Theresa both took the Tylenol that was contaminated, soon after, Stanley collapsed, and Theresa eventually started having seizures  Ms. O’Sullivan, a registered nurse believed that both Stanley & Theresa died before they were taken into the ambulance, but she couldn’t tell who died first  Stanley was pronounced dead at 8:15pm on September 29, 1982 by Dr. Kim  According to Dr. Kim, Theresa was in a deep coma with very unstable vital signs when was moved into the intensive care unit at 9:30 pm on September 29, 1982  Theresa was diagnosed as sustaining total brain death, her life support systems then were terminated, and she was pronounced dead at 1:15 pm on October 1, 1982.  The death certificates listed Stanley’s death as September 29th,1982 and Theresa as October 1, 1982 concluding that Theresa surviving Stanley, the insurance company paid the proceeds of stanley’s life insurance policy to the administrator of Theresa’s estate Procedural History:  Stanleys mother claiming there was no sufficient evidence that Theresa survived Stanley brought an action for the proceeds of Stanleys $100,000 life insurance policy which named Theresa as the contingent beneficiary  Also the administrator of Stanleys estate filed a counterclaim against Theresa’s estate seeking a declaration as to the disposition of the assets of Stanley’s estate  Defendant Metropolitan Life insurance company paid the proceeds to defendant Jan Tarasewicz (Theresa’s father & the administrator of her estate)  The trial court found sufficient evidence that Theresa survived Stanley.  Illinois Appellate court affirms Evidence Dr. Vatz, a neurologist was called as an expert witness, and concluded that Theresa was brain dead at the time of her admission but couldn’t give an opinion as to who died first Dr. George Hanley a neurosurgeon testified as an expert witness on behalf of the defendants, and stated that based on his examination of their records he concluded that Stanley died on September 29 and Theresa on October 1 He based his conclusions on the three things listen on the bottom of p. 83

At the conclusion of the trial, the court held that the evidence was sufficient to show that Theresa survived Stanley, but the court was not prepared to say by how long she survived him. Plaintiff & the administrator of Stanley’s estate appeal. Their argument is: there is not sufficient evidence to prove that both victims did not suffer brain death prior to their arrival at the hospital on September 29, 1982 Courts Reasoning:  Dual standard for determining when legal death occurs in Illinois was set forth in the case of Re Haymer (case with a child attached to mechanical life support which held that child was legally dead when he sustained total brain death, rather than when his heart stopped) 

Regardless of which standard of death is applied, survivorship is a fact which must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence by the party whose claim depends on survivorship.

Issues:  Whether or not there was sufficient evidence that Theresa survived Stanley  On reviewwhether the trial courts finding was against the manifest weight of the evidence ( WE HOLD THAT IT WAS NOT) Final decision:  we believe that the record clearly established the treating doctors diagnoses of death with respect to Stanley and Theresa were made in accordance with the “usual and customary standards of medical practice” 

Accordingly, there being sufficient evidence that Theresa Janus survived Stanley, the judgment of the circuit court of Cook County is affirmed....