When the death of a person is caused by the wrongful act, negligence, default, or breach of contract or warranty of any person, including those occurring on navigable waters, and the event would have entitled the person injured to maintain an action and recover damages if death had not ensued, the person or watercraft that would have been liable in damages if death had not ensued shall be liable for damages as specified in this act notwithstanding the death of the person injured, although death was caused under circumstances constituting a felony.
Fla. Stat. § 768.19
Right of action
Known as the Florida Wrongful Death Act
The act spans §§ 768.041 to 768.81 (79 sections).
Applied in 12 court decisions — leading case Graham v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (2015)
Most recently applied in Maria Montefu Acosta v. Miami-Dade County (March 2024)
History.--s. 1, ch. 72-35.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Online Sunshine (Florida Legislature). Reproduced from public-domain Florida statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.