Marianna & B.R. Co. v. May
| Decision Date | 11 April 1922 |
| Citation | 83 Fla. 524,91 So. 553 |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
| Parties | MARIANNA & B. R. CO. v. MAY. |
Error to Circuit Court, Jackson County; C. L. Wilson, Judge.
Action by W. H. May, as administrator of the estate of Charley May against the Marianna & Blountstown Railroad Company, for the death of plaintiff's intestate. Judgment for the plaintiff, and the defendant brings error.
Reversed.
Syllabus by the Court
Common law afforded no right of action. The common law afforded no right of action to any one for damages resulting from the death of a person caused by the wrongful act or default of another.
The statute (Rev. Gen. St. 1920, § 4961) makes a corporation liable for the death of a person caused by the wrongful act negligence, carelessness, or default of its agents, and provides that, if there be no widow or husband or minor child or person dependent on the decedent for support, 'then the action may be maintained by the executor or administrator * * * of the person killed * * * and in every such action the jury shall give such damages as the party entitled to sue may have sustained by reason of the death of the party killed.'
Administrator may recover value of prospective earnings and savings. When an administrator has a right of action under the statute imposing a liability for the wrongful death of a person, he may recover the value at the decedent's death of the prospective earnings and savings that from the evidence could reasonably have been expected but for the death of the decedent.
Elements of damages stated. In an action brought under the statute by an administrator to recover damages for the wrongful death of his decedent, where liability of the defendant is shown, the jury have no discretion in assessing the damages sustained but, among other elements, the jury may consider evidence as to the age, probable duration of life, habits of industry means, business, earnings, health, and skill of the deceased, and his reasonable future expectations. If the evidence shows the decedent's health, habits, or other conditions of life to be such that he had no reasonable future expectations of an estate, the recovery would, of course, be merely nominal.
Administrator's recovery limited to present value of estate reasonably expected. In an action for the wrongful death of a person brought by his administrator to recover damages for the loss of a prospective accumulated estate, the amount of the recovery is not the value of the decedent's life to any one or to the public, but the recovery is limited to the present value of an estate which the proofs show the decedent may reasonably have been expected to earn and save had he lived, where the accumulation of an estate by the decedent may reasonably have been expected, and the present value thereof can be ascertained with reasonable certainty from trustworthy evidence upon all matters affecting the probabilities as to life expectancy, physical condition, earning capacity, and opportunities, habits of life, and of accumulation and other pertinent circumstances.
Paul Carter, of Marianna, for plaintiff in error.
W. E. B. Smith, of Marianna, and Rivers Buford, of Tallahassee, for defendant in error.
In an action by an administrator brought under the statute to recover damages stated to be $2,900 for the death of Charley H. May, alleged to have been caused by the negligent running of the defendant railroad company's train, a writ of error was taken to a judgment for the plaintiff awarding $2,000 damages.
It appears that decedent was in his twenty-sixth year; that he was not of normal physical condition, but was 'fitified'; that he had been in an asylum; that he had fits every two or three weeks, and for two days after could not work; that he lived with his father, and worked for him; that his services were worth to his father $25 per month; that he had worked a little for other parties; that his father gave him money when he needed it, and clothes when he needed them. It is not shown that he had accumulated any estate; his body was found where it had been run over by the railroad train in the afternoon near a trial that crosses the track not far from where decedent lived; that no one saw him killed. The trainmen testified that at the point where the body was found the train was going up grade at six or eight miles an hour; but neither the engineer nor the fireman knew of the killing till they had reached another point several miles away. There is evidence that blood was seen on the engine wheels.
It having been shown that the railroad train had run over the body, the statute cast upon the defendant company the burden of making it appear that its employees in operating the train 'exercised all ordinary and reasonable care and diligence' to avoid an injury (section 4964, Rev. Gen. Stats. 1920) where an action is brought by one having a right of action to redress the injury. See Butler v. Southern R. Co., 63 Fla. 95, 58 So. 225; Georgia, F. & A. R. Co. v. Cox, 75 Fla. 714, 79 So. 276; Florida R. Co. v. Sturkey, 56 Fla. 196, 48 So. 34.
The common law afforded no right of action to any one for damages resulting from the death of a person caused by the wrongful act or default of another. The statute makes a corporation liable for the death of a person caused by the wrongful act, negligence, carelessness or default of its agent, and provides that, if there be no widow or husband or minor child or person dependent on the decedent for support, 'then the action may be maintained by the executor or administrator of the person killed * * * and in every such action the jury shall give such damages as the party entitled to sue may have sustained by reason of the death of the party killed.'
When an administrator has a right of action under the statute imposing a liability for the wrongful death of a person he may recover the value at the decedent's death of the prospective earnings and savings that from the evidence could reasonably have been expected but for the death of the decedent. The jury have no arbitrary discretion, but, among other proper elements, they may consider evidence as to the age, probable duration of life, habits of industry, means business, earnings, health, and skill of the deceased, and his reasonable future expectations. If the evidence shows the decedent's health, habits, or other conditions of life to be such that he...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Webb
... ... Co. v ... Bowden, Adm., 54 Fla. 461, 45 So. 755, 15 L. R. A. (N ... S.) 451 note; Section 7048(4961), Compiled General Laws; ... Marianna & B. R. R. Co. v. May, 83 Fla. 524, 91 So ... DAVIS, ... C.J., and TERRELL and BUFORD, JJ., ... ...
-
International Shoe Co. v. Hewitt
... ... difficult question are Jacksonville Electric Co. v. Bowden, ... supra; Florida East Coast Ry. Co. v. Hayes, supra; ... Marianna & B. R. Co. v. May, 83 Fla. 524, 91 So ... 553; Union Bus Co. v. Smith, 104 Fla. 569, 140 So ... 631; Atlantic Coast Line Ry. Co. v. Woods, 110 ... ...
-
Swift & Co. v. Ellinor, 8856.
...461, 45 So. 755, 15 L.R.A.,N.S., 451; Florida East Coast Ry. Company v. Hayes, 67 Fla. 101, 64 So. 504, 7 A.L.R. 1310; Marianna & B. R. Co. v. May, 83 Fla. 524, 91 So. 553. There was evidence to warrant a finding by the jury that, at the time of his death, McKenzie was in good health, that ......
-
Florida East Coast Ry. Co. v. Mcroberts
... ... 461, 45 ... So. 755, 15 L. R. A. (N. S.) 451; Florida East Coast R ... Co. v. Hayes, 67 Fla. 101, 64 So. 504, 7 A. L. R. 1310; ... Marianna & B. R. Co. v. May, 83 Fla. 524, 91 So ... 553; Southern Utilities Co. v. Davis, 83 Fla. 366, ... 92 So. 683; Dina v. Seaboard A. L. R. Co., 90 ... ...