Florida Supreme Court backs ‘surviving spouse’ in Broward damages dispute

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday said that a woman who married her husband shortly after he was diagnosed with a fatal disease can seek damages following his asbestos-related death.

Justices unanimously overturned lower-court rulings that rejected Jennifer Ripple’s attempts to recover damages for pain and suffering and companionship under the state’s wrongful-death law.

Ripple married her longtime boyfriend, Richard Counter, in July 2015, less than two months after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a type of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, according to Thursday’s opinion.

After the marriage, Counter filed a personal-injury lawsuit in Broward County against businesses he alleged were responsible for the exposure.

Counter died in November 2015, and Ripple, as representative of his estate, amended the lawsuit with a wrongful-death claim. But the businesses argued that Ripple could not recover damages because she was not married to Counter at the time he was allegedly exposed to asbestos, the Supreme Court opinion said.

A circuit judge and the 4th District Court of Appeal agreed with the businesses, whose attorney pointed in a Supreme Court brief to what is known as a “marriage before injury” rule, which applies in cases involving injuries that cause a loss of consortium for spouses.

“Under the common law, spouses take each other as they find each other in their then-existing state of health and assume the risk of any deprivation from prior disability,” the brief said.

But the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that, under the wrongful-death law, the “marriage before injury” rule does not prevent recovery of damages “by a surviving spouse who married the decedent after the date of injury.”

“Here, Ripple legally married Counter on July 4, 2015, and Counter died on November 1, 2015,” the opinion said. “Ripple was Counter’s spouse at the time of his death. Because she outlived her husband, Ripple is a ‘surviving spouse’ under (a section of the wrongful-death law) as a matter of law.”

Also, the opinion said “a jury may, in considering the evidence, determine whether a spouse’s conduct amounts to an attempt to marry into a … claim.”

“Nothing in our decision today prevents juries from considering the timing and duration of a couple’s marriage when evaluating a claim for damages. … Our legal system entrusts the jury with evaluating the evidence to determine a proper award,” the opinion said.

The defendants in the case are CBS Corp., General Electric Co., The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., John Crane, Inc., and Warren Pumps, LLC. Ripple had been Counter’s girlfriend for 34 years before they were married, according to a brief filed in 2022 by Ripple’s attorney.

A brief filed in 2023 by the companies’ attorney said Counter alleged he was exposed to asbestos between 1959 and 1991 while at sea during military service and while working in industries and at his home. It said he alleged exposure from asbestos-containing boilers, steam condensers, pumps, insulation, gaskets and auto parts.