Case Name: Ben GUNTER and Maxine Gunter, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Gus O. WILEY et al., Defendants-Appellants
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1975-12-24
Citations: 325 So. 2d 654
Docket Number: No. 5245
Parties: Ben GUNTER and Maxine Gunter, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Gus O. WILEY et al., Defendants-Appellants.
Judges: Before MILLER, WATSON and CU-TRER, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 325
Pages: 654–655

Head Matter:
Ben GUNTER and Maxine Gunter, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Gus O. WILEY et al., Defendants-Appellants.
No. 5245.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.
Dec. 24, 1975.
Rehearing Denied Jan, 30, 1976.
Gold, Hall, Hammill & Little by Leo Gold, Stafford, Pitts & Stafford by John L. Pitts, Lewis O. Lauve, Gist, Methvin & Trimble by James T. Trimble, Jr., Alexandria, Sam J. Friedman, Natchitoches, for defendants-appellants.
Gravel, Roy & Burnes by Chris J. Roy, Alexandria, Roy Maughan and Dorsey Martin, III, Baton Rouge, Alfred Mansour and Edward A. Kaplan, Pharis & Pharis by F. Jean Pharis, Alexandria, Watson, Murchison, Crews & Arthur by William P. Crews, Jr., Natchitoches, for plaintiffs-ap-pellees.
Before MILLER, WATSON and CU-TRER, JJ.

Opinion:
MILLER, Judge.
Defendants appeal the awards totaling $161,846 to plaintiffs Ben and Maxine Gunter for the wrongful deaths of their children, Joseph, age 14, and Roxann, age 10. We affirm.
This case was consolidated for trial and appeal with Ogaard v. Wiley, 325 So.2d 642 (La.App. 3 Cir., 1975), handed down this date. Defendants are named in that opinion. For reasons there assigned the trial court judgment is affirmed as to liability of the several defendants.
It was established in the record that plaintiffs' children were intelligent, courteous, and respectful. They had a close and affectionate relationship.
Father and son went fishing at least once each week. Daughter assisted in the family shopping and did some of the cooking. All four often engaged in family activities.
The record is sketchy, but these parents established a community of interest, love, and affection existed in their home.
Although we would have made a lesser award on this record, defendants failed to establish manifest error in the trial court's exercise of its much discretion in awarding $40,000 to each parent for each child.
The trial court judgment is affirmed at appellants' costs.
Affirmed.