Wrongful death damages

A jury may award as compensation for a wrongful death the damages that it finds proportionate to the injury or harm sustained by the statutory beneficiaries because of the death. A jury will also divide and apportion the award among the beneficiaries enumerated by statute. The damages will be determined as of the date of death.

In an action for a child’s death, the child’s parents may recover the pecuniary (or dollar value) of the child’s services from the time of death until the child reaches the age of 18. However, the cost of the child’s education, support and maintenance is subtracted. The value of any pecuniary contributions the child would have, in reasonable probability, given his parents after the age of 18 is added to the award.

To determine the amount the child would have contributed to the parents had the child lived, courts consider the following factors:

(1) the age, intelligence, health and disposition of the child;

(2) the amount and value of the child’s labor around the house; and

(3) the child’s expected contribution to the family while the parents were alive;

Where there is an adult child, the parents can generally recover the amount of future pecuniary contributions that the child, would have been expected to make to the parents. Some of the factors to be considered include the child’s financial condition, the child’s disposition toward the parent, and the financial condition of the parent. Parents may also recover for the loss of companionship and society of their child and for mental anguish caused by the child’s death.

A surviving spouse may recover the financial contributions which he or she would have received, as well as pecuniary value of intangible services which the surviving spouse would have received. The may also recover damages for mental anguish and loss of companionship.

Contact Galveston wrongful death lawyer Scott Nelson if you need assistance with a wrongful death claim.