Opinion ID: 497009
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Conscious Pain and Suffering

Text: 39 The trial court made no findings or award of damages for conscious pain and suffering experienced by Danny Self before he died. Although the lower court's opinion makes no reference to pain and suffering, the record paints a vivid picture of the final moments of Self's life. According to Burke, the seaman who tried to save Self, men thrown into the water when the barge overturned were sucked under the water for what seemed like an eternity. Record, Volume 24, at 61. After Burke surfaced, Self then surfaced, and Burke saw that Self had no life jacket. Burke told Self to hold on to him, which Self did. Id. at 62. According to Burke, 40 we struggled more or less. For the most part, his feet were on my shoulders and I was kicking, trying to surface. He was on top of me. That's where we stayed. Then we hit the ship and that's when he lost it, or I lost him, however it worked out. We lost our grip on one another. I saw him leaving me. I tried to reach him, but the buoyancy of my jacket kept me up so I couldn't. And I just saw him slip under me.... I know the water was moving very swiftly.... It was cold. I don't know what the exact temperature was, but it was pretty icy to go overboard, I know that. 41 Id. at 62-64. It seems clear that Self was conscious for at least a few moments after the barge overturned and before Self and Burke lost their grip and sucked Self under the water to his death. 42 A damages award for conscious pain and suffering is appropriate, depending on the facts, in maritime wrongful death actions. See Hlodan v. Ohio Barge Line, 611 F.2d 71, 76 (5th Cir.1980); Dickerson v. Continental Oil Company, 449 F.2d 1209, 1216 (5th Cir.1971). In Hlodan, the evidence showed that for some undetermined number of minutes before his death Hlodan was aware of his predicament, and that his death by drowning was not instantaneous. 611 F.2d at 76. In Dickerson, the court wrote that if the decedent was conscious while in the water, ... then it must be without dispute that he did suffer some pain ... from the anguish of struggling against drowning. 449 F.2d at 1216. We think that in this case the district court should have made specific findings about pain and suffering damages to which Self may be entitled. See Lettsome v. United States, 411 F.2d 917, 923 (5th Cir.1969) (remanding for specific Rule 52(a) findings on pain and suffering in maritime injury case).