Murosky v. Spaulding
| Citation | 146 A.2d 339,188 Pa.Super. 306 |
| Parties | Joseph MUROSKY, Administrator of Estate of Thomas R. Murosky, Deceased, Appellant, v. Jerome W. SPAULDING and James P. Junod. |
| Decision Date | 09 December 1958 |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Marsh Spaeder, Baur, Spaeder & Schaaf, John A. Spaeder, Will J Schaaf, Erie, for appellant.
John A. Blackmore, Erie, for J. W Spaulding.
Gifford Graham, MacDonald & Illig, John E. Britton, Erie, for James P. Junod.
Before RHODES, P. J., and HIRT, GUNTHER, WRIGHT, ERVIN and WATKINS, JJ.
The sole question in this appeal is whether the court below abused its discretion in failing to grant a new trial because of the inadequacy of the verdict.
On June 12 1955, at approximately 10:00 p. m. on a rainy evening, Thomas R. Murosky was killed in a collision between an automobile driven by Jerome W. Spaulding and one driven by James P. Junod. Murosky was a passenger in the Junod car. In the ensuing law suit instituted by Joseph Murosky, father of Thomas Murosky, the jury awarded a verdict in the amount of $3,000 in a survival action and $1,332.93 in a death action. From the refusal of the court below to grant a new trial because of the inadequate verdict in the survival action the plaintiff has appealed.
The verdict in the death action is not under attack since the sum returned by the jury in that action was agreed upon during the trial. Three actions grew out of this accident. They were tried together. In two of the cases the verdicts have not been questioned. One of those cases was that of James P. Junod v. Jerome W. Spaulding in which the jury found the plaintiff and defendant both guilty of negligence. The other was that of Jerome W. Spaulding, a minor, by George E. Spaulding, his father and guardian, and George E. Spaulding in his own right, and Marlene Graham, a minor, by Arthur E. Graham, her father and guardian, and Arthur E. Graham in his own right, v. James Junod, George E. Spaulding, guardian ad litem of Jerome W. Spaulding, minor, additional defendant, in which the jury found for Marlene Graham in the sum of $250 and for her father $134.50 for medical expenses and $2,176.01 for damages to his automobile. The verdict was against the defendant and the additional defendant, who had been severed as a party plaintiff.
At the trial evidence was presented to show that Thomas Murosky was 21 years old at the time of his death; he was in good health; was attending college at night and was gainfully employed as a tester at the Hammermill Paper Co., a position which required no advanced technical training but one in which the deceased's actual technical training was of help. He attended Cathedral Preparatory School for boys in Erie; he was graduated at the end of a four-year course in June 1952; in the last year of his attendance at preparatory school he worked part time to earn funds to assist his parents and provide a fund to defray his expenses at Gannon College, where he matriculated in the fall term of 1952. While carrying a full time schedule of classes at Gannon College he continued his outside employment to provide the means necessary to defray the expenses of his education and also to continue his aid to his parents for the needs of the family. Upon completing two years of studies and credits toward a career as a chemist and chemical engineer, in September 1954 he took a steady daytime position in the chemistry laboratory a Hammermill Paper Co. in Erie, in which position he applied himself steadily with credit, as borne out by the high praise of his work given by Dr. Alfred H. Croup, managing head of all laboratories at Hammermill. In addition to his steady daytime employment at Hammermill, he was continuing his courses at night classes at Gannon College down to the time of his death, in order to obtain the credits required to qualify him for a Bachelor of Science degree. His starting wage in September 1954 was $1.64 per hour, which grossed $65.60 for a regular 40-hour week. Due to opportunities for overtime his average weekly gross income for 1954 from his starting date on September 20 through the end of December 1954 amounted to $67.87. During the period of 23 weeks from January 1, 1955 to the date of his death on June 12, 1955 his income from his regular employment plus overtime work amounted to an average of $79.18 per week. For the entire period of his employment, which covered 38 weeks from his starting at Hammermill on September 20, 1954 down to the date of death, his average weekly earnings were $71.14. He was an outdoorsman and an athlete and did social work with boys in his spare time. As stipulated at trial, his life expectancy at death was 41.66 years. Out of his weekly earnings decedent paid $15 a week for board and room and used most of the balance of his earnings to pay for his education and an automobile. His total savings at the time of his death were $98.
In its opinion the court below said: The court below further concluded that the $3,000 verdict was substantial and that there was a substantial doubt as to the negligence of the defendants or the contributory negligence of the decedent. We are unable to agree with these conclusions. It is important to note, however, that the court below said: 'We might, and probably would have awarded a much larger sum had the matter been before us as a jury, and had we given any sum at all in view of the doubtful character of the evidence as to liability.'
Under the facts of this case we feel that the verdict...
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