A Ghoulish Legal Question: Can You Sue a Dead Person?

摘要

On Halloween, ghosts and goblins parade the streets and doorsteps of our neighborhoods, and the boundaries between the corporeal and spiritual worlds are temporarily blurred. But rarely do we see efforts to actually engage the dead in litigation. Yet recently, the Ninth Circuit conjured up a century-old question: Can you sue a dead person? Turns out, the answer is no. In LN Management v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, the Ninth Circuit ruled that a dead person cannot be a litigant. As the court pointed out, "There are a number of ways to accomplish litigation regarding interests once held by a dead person." You can sue the person's estate-a legal entity created for the purpose and represented by a living person. You can also sue a dead person's successors. In this case, the dead litigant problem arose because LN Management did not know the defen- dant was dead. Under Nevada law, a homeowners' association can foreclose on a property if an owner does not pay dues. Understandably, Kit Dansker, a Las Vegas homeowner, stopped paying her HOA dues after she died. The HOA foreclosed and resold the property to LN Management. The mortgage holders-FHFA and Fannie Mae-challenged the foreclosure, arguing the HOA cannot foreclose on the property without the FHFA's consent under the federal foreclosure bar.