Piacquadio v. Beaver Valley Service Co.

• Decision Date: 08 November 1946
• Docket Number: 3613
• Citation: 49 A.2d 406,355 Pa. 183
• Parties: Piacquadio, Trustee, Appellant, v. Beaver Valley Service Co. et al
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

49 A.2d 406

355 Pa. 183

Piacquadio, Trustee, Appellant, v. Beaver Valley Service Co. et al

No. 3613

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

November 8, 1946

Argued October 3, 1946

Appeal, No. 96, March, T., 1946, from order of C.P Allegheny Co., April T., 1941, No. 1720, in case of Angelo Piacquadio, trustee ad litem, v. Beaver Valley Service Co. et al. Order affirmed.

Trespass for wrongful death.

Petition and rule by plaintiff to amend statement of claim discharged before EGAN, RICHARDSON and SMART, JJ., opinion by SMART, J Plaintiff appealed.

Order affirmed at appellant's cost.

S. C. Pugliese , with him S. V. Albo , for appellant.

D. H. McConnell , for appellees.

Before MAXEY, C.J., DREW, LINN, STERN, PATTERSON, STEARNE and JONES, JJ.

OPINION

MR. JUSTICE PATTERSON

Did the court below err in discharging a rule to show cause why the statement of claim in an action for damages under the "Death" Acts of April 15, 1851, P.L. 669, sec. 19, and April 26, 1855, P.L. 309, should not be amended to include an action for damages under the "Survival" Act of July 2, 1937, P.L. 2755, more than two years after the injuries causing death? That is the sole question on this appeal.

On February 18, 1941, Angelo Piacquadio, father of Angelo A. Piacquadio, Jr., instituted this action in trespass, averring that the decedent, a minor, died on August 16, 1940, from injuries sustained on August 14, 1940, as a result of negligence of defendants. Damages were claimed in the amount of $5000, representing "the earnings of said minor until he becomes of age" and "the funeral and medical expenses which he [plaintiff] paid." The statement of claim further averred that decedent being a minor, plaintiff was entitled to bring the action under Pa. R.C.P. 2202, that the only parties entitled by law to recover damages were himself and wife, and that the action was brought on their behalf by plaintiff as trustee ad litem.

On June 1, 1945, plaintiff obtained a rule to show cause why the original statement of claim should not be amended "by adding to the first paragraph the words, 'and is also the duly qualified administrator of the estate of Angelo A. Piacquadio, Jr.'; by deleting from the fifth paragraph the words, 'until he becomes of age'; by adding to the seventh paragraph the words, 'as well as for himself in the capacity of administrator of the estate of Angelo A. Piacquadio, Jr., in which capacity he claims damages for the lost earnings of the decedent during the balance of his life, as well as for pain and suffering'; and by amending paragraph eight to read, 'by reason of the premises, the plaintiff claims from the defendants for himself and wife the sum of Five Thousand Dollars ($5000), and for the estate of the decedent the sum of Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000), to recover which this suit is brought." The rule to show cause was subsequently discharged by the court below and this appeal followed.

Although they arise out of a common factual background, the death action under the Acts of 1851 and 1855 is a separate and distinct cause of action from the cause of action for the decedent's injuries which survives his death under the Act of 1937. "The one represents a cause of action unknown to the common law and is for the benefit of certain enumerated relatives of the person killed by another's negligence; the damages recoverable are measured by the pecuniary loss occasioned to them through deprivation of the part of the earnings of the deceased which they would have received from him had he lived. The other is not a new cause of action at all, but merely continues in his personal representatives the right of action which accrued to the deceased at common law because of the tort; the damages recoverable are measured by the pecuniary loss occasioned to him , and therefore to his estate , by the...