Anatomy of a Wrongful Death Lawsuit

What Can Be "Put on the Board"? (contd.)

The valuation question can be approached by determining what amount the decedent would have contributed for the benefit of the beneficiary of the wrongful death action. Of course that part of the earnings that the deceased would have spent on his own maintenance could not, under any circumstances, go for the benefit of the beneficiary and, therefore, cannot form any part of the damages suffered by the beneficiary as a result of the death. A clear example of this method of analysis would be a case where a parent with a substantial earning capacity provides a proportionately small contribution toward the support of a minor child. Under a contribution analysis, it is only in the most theoretical sense that it can be said that the cost of maintenance is deducted in determining wrongful death damages. In the case of an action by a husband for the death of his wife, even though the decedent was not employed, the cost of the decedent's maintenance must be deducted from the pecuniary value of her services in the wrongful death action since the husband would have incurred the cost of his wife's maintenance.

In the case of the death of a housewife who is gainfully employed, but who retains her own earnings, the Supreme Court has held that the cost of maintenance is properly deducted in the wrongful death rather than in the survival action since the husband who was the beneficiary in the wrongful death action would have incurred the cost of maintaining his wife if she had lived. In the case a wrongful death action brought by parents for the death of a minor child, the parent's pecuniary loss is the value of the child's services and earnings during his minority less the cost of his maintenance during minority. In the case of a wrongful death action brought by a wife for the death of her husband, her pecuniary loss is measured by the amount of her husband's earnings that would have gone for her benefit, exclusive of the amount that would have gone for his own maintenance. In the case of a child's action for the death of a parent, any sums that a child would have contributed to the support of the parent, had the parent lived, must be deducted from the pecuniary value of the parent's services in calculating damages in a wrongful death action.

B. Life Expectancy of the Decedent

In general, the same factors apply in measuring the life expectancy of the deceased in a wrongful death action as are applicable in the case of a permanent personal injury. If the decedent dies from causes unrelated to the conduct of the defendant, damages are measured according to the time of his actual death rather than some hypothetical life expectancy.

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