Opinion ID: 747145
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Statement of Relevant Facts in the Individual Cases

Text: This action was brought by Nan Oldham, the mother of decedent John R. Oldham, on her own behalf and as personal representative of his estate. She seeks pecuniary and nonpecuniary damages for herself, the estate and the decedent's three surviving siblings, Charlotte Oldham-Moore, Nancy Oldham Raab, and William D. Oldham III. Mr. Oldham's parents, Dr. William Oldham and Nan Oldham, became separated in 1970 when she and her children returned to the United States from Taipei, Taiwan, where the family had lived since 1966. They were divorced in the following year. Since that time, Dr. Oldham has continued to live overseas and has had virtually no contact with his children. In fact, at the time of Mr. Oldham's death, his younger sister Charlotte, who was then 18, had not seen her father since she was one-and-one-half years old. Mr. Oldham received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University. During his years there, he returned home during holidays and in the summers to be with his mother and siblings. In 1980, after a year abroad as a Fulbright scholar during his senior year of college, Mr. Oldham began a three-year program at Columbia University's law school, returning home to be with his family during vacations, in the summer, and about twice a month on weekends during the school year. There is ample testimony that during all these years, he took a special interest in the upbringing and education of his sister Charlotte and that she came to regard him as a surrogate father. Following his graduation from law school in 1983, the law firm of Surrey & Morse offered him a job as an associate. Because he had an opportunity to teach the American legal system in China as a Ford Foundation Fellow, the firm rescheduled his starting date for June 1984 at the same salary. Mr. Oldham told a professor at the law school and a lawyer at Surrey & Morse about his family's background and about his belief that he bore the financial responsibility for supporting his mother and his sister Charlotte. (His sister Nancy had married in 1982.) Mr. Oldham also mentioned to family members that he intended to provide financial assistance to his mother and Charlotte once he was earning a salary. Charlotte admitted that she had never received financial assistance from her brother. Although she expected that he would have helped finance her education, she did not know how much he would have contributed.
Marsha J.K. Maikovich, daughter of decedents Allen and Lillian Kohn, sued for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages on her own behalf and on behalf of her parents' estates. The Kohns were survived by three children, Marsha Maikovich, Joseph Kohn, and Robert Kohn, and Lillian Kohn's mother, Lillian Percy Beale. At the time of the crash, Allen Kohn was a 64-year-old stockbroker with Drexel Burnham Lambert (Drexel Burnham). He had spent his entire career at Drexel Burnham, having started to work for the firm in the mid-1950's. His compensation during the years from 1978 through 1982 ranged between $58,425 and $78,355. In 1983, his earnings up to September 1, the [326 U.S.App.D.C. 381] day he died, totaled $106,365. In the approximately 30 years that he had worked, he had accumulated an estate of $1,500,000, all of which was distributed to his children after his death. Decedent Lillian Kohn was 55 years old when she died. She was a homemaker who worked on occasion as a freelance writer. The only evidence of her earnings presented at the trial showed that she had been paid $11,654 in 1979. The Kohns' two oldest children, Marsha Maikovich (age 29) and Joseph Kohn (age 26), were college educated, financially independent adults at the time of the crash. Both testified at the trial that, at the time of the crash, they were not receiving any money from the decedents for necessities and did not expect to need or receive financial support from them in the future. Nevertheless, the Kohns' children remained extremely close to their parents and telephoned them one or more times a week to share experiences and to discuss their problems. The evidence also indicated that the Kohns made frequent financial contributions to or on behalf of the adult children. Their third child, Robert Kohn, was 17 years old and preparing to attend college at the time of the crash. When he turned 18, Robert assumed control of a custodial account containing $102,449 that had been established by Allen Kohn for Robert's education. Although the Kohns had established similar accounts for their other two children, their father paid for their college and post-graduate expenses out of other funds and gave these children the money in the custodial accounts. Robert ultimately received undergraduate and graduate degrees and, at the time of the trial, was working for a consulting firm outside of Pittsburgh.
Decedent Suellen Ocampo, who was 39 years old at the time of her death, lived with her husband Edward Ocampo (the plaintiff in this case), their two minor children (ages 3 and 4), and her mother. Although Mrs. Ocampo's mother and two children were also killed in the KE007 crash, their claims were settled prior to trial. The trial therefore concerned only KAL's liability to Mr. Ocampo and to his wife's estate. The decedent was a licensed pharmacist who earned approximately $32,000 a year. At the time of the crash, Mr. Ocampo was employed at a brokerage firm. He had previously worked as a housekeeper and as a restaurant manager. His mother-in-law looked after the two children and was fully dependent on the Ocampos for her financial support. At the trial, Mr. Ocampo testified that he had contributed about 40 percent of the family's total support and that he and his wife had placed all of their money in a joint account from which he received $20 a week. He also testified that his wife paid the household bills from the account. The Ocampos owned a home in Staten Island, New York, for which they had made a $20,000 down payment that virtually exhausted their savings. Mr. Ocampo failed to present any evidence that would indicate either the size of their family expenses or the extent to which the expenses had been paid by the decedent.