Mathies v. Kittrell
| Decision Date | 08 March 1960 |
| Docket Number | No. 38699,38699 |
| Parties | , 1960 OK 62 Henry D. MATHIES, Administrator of the Estate of Jeannie Mathies, deceased, Plaintiff in Error, v. Sherrie Rae KITTRELL, Defendant in Error. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. If an issue has been removed by an admission in the answer it is not error to refuse to admit evidence which is material solely to the excluded matter.
2. In a wrongful death action the verdict of the jury will not be disturbed by this court in the absence of a showing of prejudicial error by the trial court.
Appeal from the District Court of Tulsa County, Leslie Webb, Judge.
Action by plaintiff, administrator, against defendant for the loss of the services of minor child killed in an accident. Plaintiff appeals from a judgment in his favor. Affirmed.
Wheeler & Wheeler, John M. Wheeler, John Wheeler, Jr., Robert L. Wheeler, Tulsa, for plaintiff in error.
Hudson, Hudson, Wheaton & Kyle, Tulsa, for defendant in error.
The plaintiff, who is the administrator of the estate of Jeannie Mathies, deceased, brings this action seeking to recover damages for the wrongful death of the said deceased Jeannie Mathies, for the benefit of her surviving next of kin, Henry D. Mathies and Eileen Mathies, her parents.
The plaintiff states by his petition that on the 28th day of January, 1958, Jeannie Mathies, who was then a child of five years of age, was killed as a result of an automobile accident and that her death resulted from the negligent acts of the defendant, Sherrie Rae Kittrell, in the driving of a certain automobile; that as a direct and proximate result of the negligence of the defendant, resulting in the death of Jeannie Mathies, the parents of Jeannie Mathies have been deprived of her services and earnings from the date of her death until the time she would have attained her majority, to wit: eighteen years; that the reasonable value of said services was in the sum of $50,000 and the plaintiff, as the administrator of the estate of Jeannie Mathies and on behalf of her parents, prays judgment against the defendant in the said sum of $50,000.
The defendant first answered with a general denial but later amended the answer. First, she admits that she was guilty of negligence which proximately caused the death of plaintiff decedent; defendant further admits that plaintiff's decedent was of the age alleged in plaintiff's petition and that Henry D. Mathies is the administrator of the estate of Jeannie Mathies, deceased; defendant further alleges and states that the only issue between her and this plaintiff is the amount of damages which the plaintiff is entitled to recover in this action and tender that issue to the jury.
After the parties presented their evidence the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for $2,500.
The plaintiff appeals and contends error of the court in refusing to receive competent and relevant evidence as to the manner in which the deceased child met her death and of the gross negligence of the defendant. Also that the amount of the verdict...
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Richards v. United States
...St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Co., 205 Okl. 594, 239 P.2d 769; Herndon v. Dolton-Barnard Hardware Co., Okl., 289 P.2d 970; Mathies v. Kittrell, Okl., 350 P.2d 951. The right of action in that state is created by 12 O.S.1951 § 1053. The statute provides in substance that when the death of ......
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Fleet v. Sanguine, Ltd.
...an element of damages, see infra Part II.C.30 For the pertinent terms of 12 O.S.1981 § 1101, see supra note 2.31 See Mathies v. Kittrell, Okl., 350 P.2d 951, 953 (1960), where we held that the trial court may reject evidence material solely to an issue that has been removed by an admission ......
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Roach v. Jimmy D. Enterprises, Ltd.
...in wrongful death statutes, punitive damages were not recoverable in cases involving the wrongful death of a child. Mathies v. Kittrell, 350 P.2d 951 (Okla.1960). Beginning in the 1970's, the damages recoverable for wrongful death were significantly expanded and 12 O.S. 1991 § 1053.C now al......
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White v. BK Trucking Company, Inc.
...not recoverable with reference to Plaintiff's wrongful death action. See Crossett v. Andrews, 277 P.2d 117 (Okl.1954) and Mathies v. Kittrell, 350 P.2d 951 (Okl.1960). However, Oklahoma appears not to have ruled on whether punitive damages are recoverable with reference to a survival cause ......