Opinion ID: 1731023
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: propriety of closing arguments

Text: Defendants further urge our reversal of the trial court's decision because of the allegedly improper and prejudicial nature of Plaintiffs' counsel's closing argument. Specifically, Defendants objected to that portion of the argument wherein Plaintiffs' counsel stated: How valuable and how precious is human life? Ladies and gentlemen, how valuable and how precious are the hostages over in Iran? How much would this country pay to have those individuals back? . . . Would any amount of money suffice for those lives? How much are the lives of all the Cuban refugees that our tax dollars are going to support, how much are they worth? They are human beings, also. ... [A]nd I submit to you that the life that Ronnie Joe Cowan had during his lifetime was worth as much to him as mine is to me and any other individual in the world is to them. And he had the right to live his life in the fullest and best way that he would. And, but for the fact that they burned him, and but for the fact that the treatment in Jackson Hospital, and the fact that that boy was dehydrated, I submit to you that he would be here today. These statements, Defendants claim, amounted to an argument for an award of damages compensatory in nature rather than punitive. It is settled that under Alabama law (Code 1975, § 6-5-410) the only damages recoverable in a wrongful death action are punitive in nature, determined by the gravity of the wrong done, the propriety of punishing the wrongdoer, and the need for deterring others from committing the same or similar wrongful conduct. Merrell v. Alabama Power Company, 382 So.2d 494 (Ala.1980); Airheart v. Green, 267 Ala. 689, 104 So.2d 687 (1958). Furthermore, argument of counsel appealing to the jury for an award of compensation for an individual's death as measured by the material worth of his or her life is improper. Hardin v. Sellers, 270 Ala. 156, 117 So.2d 383 (1960). The very purpose of punitive damages, then, in a wrongful death context, rests upon the Divine concept that all human life is precious. The language of § 6-5-410 is that recovery may be had for such damages as the jury may assess. The judicial interpretations of our wrongful death statute have developed this principle: While human life is incapable of translation into a compensatory measurement, the amount of an award of punitive damages may be measured by the gravity of the wrong done, the punishment called for by the act of the wrongdoer, and the need to deter similar wrongs in order to preserve human life. The wisdom of this principle is all too dramatically exemplified by the station in life of Ronnie Joe Cowan. See Geohagan v. General Motors Corporation, 291 Ala. 167, 279 So.2d 436 (1973). We hold, then, that the trial court correctly ruled that compensation was not the measure of damages sought by Plaintiffs' counsel when he referred to the value of human life in his closing argumentit is indeed the value of life itself upon which punitive damages are premised. This must be the rule in view of the extremely difficult responsibility resting upon a jury in a wrongful death action: to equate the wrong donethe wrongful taking of human lifewith a monetary award. In the instant case, we find no evidence that the jury retired with the attitude of awarding compensatory rather than punitive damages. On the contrary, the trial judge, in his oral charge, was careful to exclude any indication of compensation in the event the jury should make an assessment of damages. This was clearly evidenced by the posture of a question asked of the trial judge by the foreman of the jury, indicating the jury's understanding that the nature of the allowable damages was punitive: In the case that we find guilty or not guilty, the amount that you have down for Mrs. Bannerman, or whatever, is the amount supposed to be the punishment that we put if we render an innocent or guiltyis that what this is the purpose of? Is it a punishment? THE COURT: `Yes, sir, it is in the form of a suitable fine, penal in nature.'