Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...person in the street as the mother, and in urging that recovery should be allowed upon proper proof. Torts (4th Ed. Section 56, "Prenatal Injuries," p. 354). Our legislature recognizes the legal personality of an unborn child in certain situations. Section 782.09, Florida Statutes (1975), provides for criminal penalties for the willful killing of an unborn child by any injury to the mother of that child....

...poses of the aggravated battery statute. The court urged the legislature to enact laws protecting the unborn fetus from violence of the kind involved in that case. To some extent, the Florida legislature has addressed the killing of an unborn child. Section 782.09, Florida Statutes (1983), provides: 782.09 Killing of unborn child by injury to mother....

...y the operation of a motor vehicle by a person while intoxicated constitutes "manslaughter," and on conviction such person shall be punished "by existing law relating to manslaughter." [2] See § 782.08, Fla. Stat. (1993) (assisting selfmurder); Id. § 782.09 (the willful killing of an unborn quick child); Id....

...that the omission of a "fetus" from the battery statute, and from the definition statute, constitutes an indication that the Legislature did not intend to include a fetus within the statutory protection. This position is also supported by resort to Section 782.09, Florida Statutes (1981), which provides as follows: 782.09 Killing of unborn child by injury to mother The willful killing of an unborn quick child, by any injury to the mother of such child which would be murder if it resulted in the death of such mother, shall be deemed manslaughter, a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in § 775.082, § 775.083, or § 775.084....

...Appellant recognizes the common law rule that a fetus must be born alive in order to be a "human being" who can become the victim of a crime. However, he argues that this rule has been abrogated in Florida by the feticide and termination-of-pregnancy statutes, sections 782.09 and 390.001(10), Florida Statutes (1989), respectively. Section 782.09 provides that the willful killing of an unborn quick child by an injury to the mother, which would be murder if it resulted in the mother's death, is manslaughter....

...ngaged in the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate, any felony (i.e. aggravated battery on Schanell Sorrel) other than any of the enumerated felonies. Although appellant argues the abrogation of the common law born-alive rule by sections 782.09 and 390.001(10), we suggest, as have our sister courts, its continued viability in the absence of any statutory definition of "human being." See State v....

...Hammett, 192 Ga. App. 224, 384 S.E.2d 220 (1989); People v. Bolar, 109 Ill. App.3d 384, 440 N.E.2d 639 (1982). We agree with appellant that the Legislature has provided protections for unborn fetuses only in the limited circumstances set forth in sections 782.09 and 390.001(10), Florida Statutes (1989)....

...ction). The legislature has, in other contexts, explicitly provided protection for fetuses. See, e.g., § 782.071, Fla. Stat. ("`vehicular homicide' is the killing of a human being, or the killing of a viable fetus" by operation of a motor vehicle); § 782.09, Fla....

...American courts have also generally held that the words "person" or "human being," as used in most statutes, do not include the unborn. [5] To some extent, that view has changed slightly in Florida. For example, the Florida Legislature has addressed the killing of an unborn child by enacting section 782.09, Florida Statutes (1983), which makes the willful killing of an "unborn quick child" unlawful....

...In determining the intent of the Legislature, the courts must construe a statute in light of the purposes for which it was enacted and the evils it was intended to cure. That the Florida Legislature has sought to protect unborn children is illustrated by other statutes. For example, section 782.09 provides that the "willful killing of an unborn, quick child ......

...previously sustained.” State v. Gonzalez, 467 So. 2d 723, 725 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985); see also Knighton v. State, 603 So. 2d 71, 72 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992); State v. McCall, 458 So. 2d 875, 876 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). 1 The Florida Legislature enacted section 782.09, Florida Statutes, commonly referred to as the feticide statute, in 1868....

...1868-1637, § 10, Laws of Fla. Through September 2005, the feticide statute provided that “[t]he willful killing of an unborn quick child, by any injury to the mother of such child which would be murder if it resulted in the death of such mother, shall be deemed manslaughter.” § 782.09, Fla....

...Any person, other than the mother, who unlawfully kills an unborn quick child by any injury to the mother: .... (b) Which would be murder in the second degree if it resulted in the mother's death commits murder in the second degree . . . . § 782.09, Fla....

...isplace the 2 Effective October 2014, the feticide statute was amended to criminalize the killing of an “unborn child,” which is defined as “a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.” § 782.09(1), (5), Fla. Stat....

...an unborn child is not a human being within the meaning of Florida’s homicide statute, section 782.04(2), Florida Statutes (2013). As explained in the majority opinion, the Legislature abrogated the common law when it enacted the 2013 version of the feticide statute, section 782.09, Florida Statutes, and expressed its clear intent to give protection under the homicide statute to unborn human beings from the point of viability....

...could not be convicted for killing an unborn child. Commonwealth v. Morris, 142 4 In 2014, the Legislature amended the definition of “unborn child” to include any “member[s] of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.” §§ 782.09(1), (5), Fla....

...The legislature has, in other contexts, explicitly provided protection for fetuses. See, e.g., § 782.071, Fla. Stat. (“ ‘vehicular homicide’ is the killing of a human being, or the killing of a viable fetus” by operation of a motor vehicle); § 782.09, Fla....

...1st DCA 2017). The Legislature further recognized this by establishing that the willful killing of an unborn child by injury to its mother is murder and is considered a separate offense from the death or bodily injury of the mother. See § 782.09(1), Fla....