Riley v. Rodgers

10 Pa. D. & C.4th 385, 1991 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 272
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Blair County
DecidedJune 5, 1991
Docketno. 1069 C.P. 1990
StatusPublished

This text of 10 Pa. D. & C.4th 385 (Riley v. Rodgers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Blair County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Riley v. Rodgers, 10 Pa. D. & C.4th 385, 1991 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 272 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1991).

Opinion

CARPENTER, J.,

Before the court are the preliminary objections filed by defendant, James F. Rodgers, consisting of a motion for more specific pleading and a demur to plaintiff’s complaint. We will address these objections seriatim.

With respect to the motion for more specific pleading, defendant requests this court to order plaintiff to file 'an amended complaint that more specifically avers the following matters: (1) the source, nature and amount of plaintiff’s decedent’s earnings; (2) plaintiff’s decedent’s age at time of death and actuarial life expectancy; (3) the natural and probable amount of expenditures that the plaintiff’s decedent would have made for his own benefit, maintenance or enjoyment; (4) the amount or proportion of lost earnings that the plaintiff’s decedent would have expended for the benefit, maintenance or enjoyment of his heirs had he survived to his full life expectancy; and (5) the amount of the expenditures and the value of the services that would have been incurred for or rendered for the benefit of plaintiff’s decedent by the children if he had survived to his full life expectancy. According to defendant’s argument, plaintiff’s cause of action is authorized by the wrongful death and survival statutes, 42 Pa.C.S. §§8301 and 8302, and, since the measure of damages in such actions contemplates the information requested, plaintiff should be compelled to aver these matters in the complaint. In support of this position, defendant cites as authority' Hafer v. Schauer, 9 Lebanon Leg. J. 349 (1963), and Flintosh v. Elko, 48 D.&C. 72 (1944).

With regard to the degree of specificity required of a complaint stating a cause of action under the wrongful death and survival action statutes, plaintiff must comply with the pleading requirements set forth in Pa.R.C.P. 2204, which provides as follows:

[387]*387“In addition to all other facts required to be pleaded, the initial pleading of the plaintiff in an action for wrongful death shall state the plaintiff’s relationship to the decedent, his right to bring the action, the names and last known residence addresses of all persons entitled by law to recover damages, their relationship to the decedent and that the action was brought in their behalf.”

It is apparent from the complaint plaintiff has fully complied with this procedural rule. However, defendant’s objection persuades us to adopt a level of specificity going beyond the parameters of this rule. Specifically, defendant argues that certain items relevant to the measure of damages in wrongful death and survival actions be pled with particularity, since these particular facts are essential to the determination of the rights of the plaintiff in an action such as this. Hafer v. Schauer, 9 Lebanon Leg. J. 349, 356 (1963). Our research reveals that there is no appellate decision addressing this matter, and there is a split among the trial courts which remains unresolved since 1963.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
10 Pa. D. & C.4th 385, 1991 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/riley-v-rodgers-pactcomplblair-1991.