Florida East Coast Railway Co. v. Hayes

64 So. 504, 67 Fla. 101, 7 A.L.R. 1310, 1914 Fla. LEXIS 343
Supreme Court of Florida·Decided February 11, 1914·Published·Cited by 48 cases

Opinions

Pkr Curiam.

This writ of error was taken to a judgment obtained by the administrator ¿f M. S. Hayes, deceased, an infant, in an action brought under Sections 3145 and 3146 of the General Statutes of- Florida, to recover for the wrongful death of said infant, “such dama[103]*103ges as the party * * * entitles to sue may have sustained by reason of the death of the party killed.”

The assignments of error predicated upon the overruling of a demurrer to the declaration and upon the denial of a motion for a directed verdict in favor of the defendant below, are sufficiently covered by the discussion of similar questions in Florida East Coast Railway v. Hayes, decided at this tenn.

The declaration alleges actionable negligence and the demurrer thereto was properly overruled. As there is evidence upon which the jury could legally find for the idaintiff, the court correctly refused to give an affirmative charge for the defendant.

The jury returned a verdict of liability against the defendant, and the finding of liability does not appear to be wholly without legal basis in the evidence. It is, therefore, necessary to determine the proper rule for the measure for damages recoverable under the statute in an action brought by an administrator as the legal representative of the estate of a deceased minor, in order to adjudicate the questions presented as to the propriety of the amount of the judgment. The object of the statute giving the right of action is compensation to those who have sustained damages or loss by reason of the death of a person caused by the fault of another. By the terms of the statute giving a right of recovery that did not exist at common law, the administrator of the decedent cannot maintain an action unless the decedent left no husband or wife and no minor child, and no other person dependent on him for support. A husband or wife, a minor child and a dependent person each occupies his or her particular intimate personal relation of dependence during the life expectancy, and by the wrongful death, such husband or wife, minor child or dependent person sustains loss or [104]*104damage that is not wholly monetary, but such as is peculiar to the relation that existed, and that is concurrent with the life expectancy. See Florida Cent. & P. R. Co. v. Foxworth, 41 Fla. 1, 25 South. Rep. 338. But the administrator as the legal representative of the decedent’s estate can sustain no loss or damage by reason of the wrongful death except the pecuniary value of the life to the prospective estate of the decedent, which damage or loss does not include, and has no relation to physical or other* suffering of the decedent or his relatives, or to claims of any one for present or future support or solatium. Such loss or damage to the estate is wholly monetary, and any compensation therefor, after the payment of debts, passes to the decedent’s general heirs as of the end of his life expectancy, to compensate for the estate that the decedent probably would have accumulated to leave at his death to such .general heirs. Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Jones, 45 Fla. 407, 34 South. Rep. 246; Jacksonville Electric Co. v. Bowden, 54 Fla. 461, 45 South. Rep. 755; Hively v. Webster County, 117 Iowa 672, 91 N. W. Rep. 1041; McAdory v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 94 Ala. 272, 10 South. Rep. 507. Where the decedent was an infant, the loss or damage to the estate would not begin until after the time he would have become of age, since under the statute the father recovers for the loss of his minor child’s service to the adult age, as well as for the mental pain and suffering of the parents caused by the infant’s wrongful death. Florida East Coast Railway v. Hayes, supra; Sec. 3147 Gen. Stats. of 1906.

Where the infant leaves no husband or wife, and no minor child, and no person dependent on him or her for a support, the administrator of the deceased infant’s estate may under the statute maintain an action to recover “such damages” as the estate “may have sustained [105]*105by reason of the” wrongful death; and the proper measure of such damages is the present worth of the decedent’s life to, an estimated prospective estate that he probably would have earned and saved after becoming of age and • during his life expectancy to be left at his death. A determination of the proper amount of such damages requires a consideration- of the contingency whether the decedent probably would have lived to become of age and t6 some given time afterwards, as well as an estimate of the value of the estate he probably would have earned and saved after he would have become of age and would probably have left at the end of his life expectancy, and also an estimate of the present money value of the decedent’s life to the estimated prospective estate. In making this determination no exact rule of reasoning or computation is afforded by law, but the jury have no arbitrary discretion. The finding should be the result of a fair consideration of all the matters that should under the circumstances of the particular case properly enter into the estimate and computation. Among other proper elements that may be considered are the age, mental capacity, habits of life and industry and thrift, means, business, earnings, health, probable duration of life skill and environments and reasonable expectations of the decedent. If the jury find that the deceased infant probably would have lived to some given period after he would have become of age, and also find an estimated value of an estate he probably would have accumulated and left for distribution among his heirs at the end of his life expectancy, the present money value of the decedent’s life to his estimated prospective estate may be ascertained with some degree of accuracy as a practical or mathematical proposition. In cases of this character it is left for the jury in the fair exercise of a sound discretion in the light of all the information prop[106]*106erly available, to ascertain and fix the probable amount of the damage sustained by the plaintiff, or by those whom he represents, “reserving at all times the authority of the court to guard against manifest injustice by way of excessive estimates.” See Jacksonville Electric Co. v. Bowden, 54 Fla. 461, 45 South. Rep. 755; 15 L. R. A. (N. S.) 451; Andrews v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co. 86 Iowa 677, 53 N. W. Rep. 399; Wheelan v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co., 85 Iowa 167, 52 N. W. Rep. 119; Walters v. Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co., 36 Iowa 458; Sherman v. Western Stage Co., 24 Iowa 515; 18 Cyc. 366. The plaintiff has the burden of adducing proper evidence from which the jury may find “such damages as the” decedent’s prospective estate “may have sustained by reason of the death.” When future expectations are to be compensated by anticipated present recoveries, the plaintiff is entitled t0‘ only the present value of such future expectations.

In effect the court instructed the jury if they find for the plaintiff to award such sum as the evidence shows the decedent would probably have accumulated during his life expectancy from his- probable earnings after he would have reached the age of 21 years, reduced to a money value, and its present worth to be given as damages; and also that if the decedent and the defendant were both at fault the plaintiff may recover, but the damages should be diminished in proportion to the decedent’s fault.

The statute requires the appellate court to review orders denying new trials and to reverse or affirm the judgments of trial courts as may be right, or to give judgment as the court below ought to have given, or as it may appear according to law. Secs.

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Florida East Coast Railway Co. v. Hayes, 64 So. 504, 67 Fla. 101, 7 A.L.R. 1310, 1914 Fla. LEXIS 343 (Fla. 1914).

64 So. 504 (Florida East Coast Railway Co. v. Hayes) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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