Opinion ID: 2305543
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Pecuniary Damages to Robert and Barbara

Text: [¶ 8] Robert and Barbara contend that the pecuniary loss they suffered due to Karen's death is not so speculative as to preclude recovery. [¶ 9] Damages may not be awarded when the proof is speculative. When the evidence offered to show prospective damages is in the nature of mere guesswork and conjecture, the factfinder will be unable to determine the plaintiff's loss with reasonable certainty. Snow v. Villacci, 2000 ME 127, ¶ 13, 754 A.2d 360, 364-65 (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). Damages are recoverable if they are grounded on facts established by the evidence, not surmise and conjecture. Tang of the Sea, Inc. v. Bayley's Quality Seafoods, Inc., 1998 ME 264, ¶ 8, 721 A.2d 648, 650; Williams v. Ubaldo, 670 A.2d 913, 917 (Me.1996). We will not vacate a determination that a party failed to meet his burden of proof unless the evidence compels a contrary finding. Schlear v. James Newspapers, Inc., 1998 ME 215, ¶ 3, 717 A.2d 917, 918. [¶ 10] It is inherently difficult to determine pecuniary loss upon the death of a child. In Graffam v. Saco Grange Patrons of Husbandry, No. 53, 112 Me. 508, 92 A. 649 (1914), we stated that an eleven-year-old who suffered an accidental death might have provided financial assistance to his mother during the next twenty years if he had been industrious and frugal, and had not taken on other domestic burdens by marriage, but that [a]ll these elements ... are more or less speculative, existing in the realm of possibility not the realm of certainty. Id., 112 Me. at 511, 92 A. at 650-51. Similarly, we stated in another case that a majority of children, eight years of age, will have cost their parents during their lifetime, a much larger outlay than they will have contributed to their benefit. Curran v. Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville St. Ry. Co., 112 Me. 96, 99, 90 A. 973, 974 (1914). [¶ 11] The court did not err in concluding, based on the evidence presented, that the pecuniary injury to Barbara and Robert resulting from Karen's death was too speculative to be determined to the necessary degree of certainty.