Opinion
October 28, 1970
Appeal from a judgment of the Court of Claims awarding claimant, as administrator, $100,000 damages, plus $1,400 for funeral and interment expenses for the wrongful death of his wife while a patient at Creedmoor State Hospital. The sole issue presented is whether the award of $100,000 damages was excessive. Damages for wrongful death are limited to the reasonable expectation of pecuniary loss. Many factors are involved in the assessment of damage amounts, and comparison with other cases is not really too useful since each case depends on its own merits. The decedent, a housewife, was 38 at the time of her death and left a husband and four infant children, all under eight years of age. The additional cost of caring for the children during their childhood is involved and in addition there is the husband's pecuniary loss not connected with the care of the children which also must be considered. On the other hand, consideration must, of course, be given to the decedent's state of health in determining her life expectancy and also to the life expectancy of the claimant and the children during their minority. Considering all of these factors we find the trial court's award of $100,000 to be excessive here. In our opinion the award should be $65,000, and accordingly it is so reduced. Judgment modified, on the law and the facts, so as to reduce to $65,000 plus $1,400 for funeral and interment expenses the damages awarded for decedent's wrongful death, and, as so modified, affirmed, without costs. Herlihy, P.J., Reynolds, Greenblott, Cooke and Sweeney, JJ., concur.