Opinion ID: 197865
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Distribution of the Damages

Text: 49 Both the Administratrix and the Government appeal from the district court's award of damages. The Administratrix argues that the district court erred as a matter of both law and fact in denying Mr. Hassey's adult children's claims for compensation under the Massachusetts wrongful death statute. The United States, in turn, argues that the district court did not err in not awarding damages to the decedent's children because they are adults who were no longer financially dependent upon their father and are therefore not entitled to recover under the statute. The Government also argues, however, that insofar as the district court awarded damages to Mr. Hassey's widow, rather than to the Administratrix, the district court acted without subject matter jurisdiction. 50 Section 2 of the wrongful death statute provides, in pertinent part, that: 51 [a] person who ... by his negligence causes the death of a person ... shall be liable in damages in the amount of ... the fair monetary value of the decedent to the persons entitled to receive the damages recovered, as provided in section , including but not limited to compensation for the loss of the reasonably expected net income, services, protection, care, assistance, society, companionship, comfort, guidance, counsel, and advice of the decedent to the persons entitled to the damages recovered. 52 Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 229, § 2. Section 2 further provides that [a] person shall be liable for the negligence ... of his agents or servants while engaged in his business to the same extent and subject to the same limits as he would be liable under this section for his own act. Section 1, which independently provides for a type of premises liability, 4 also specifies that: 53 [i]f the deceased shall have been survived by a wife or husband and by more than one child surviving either in person or by issue, then one third to the use of such surviving spouse and two thirds to the use of such surviving children or their issue by right of representation. 54 Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 229, § 1(3). 55 The plain language of the statute permits recovery for those losses akin to loss of consortium. Schultz v. Grogean, 406 Mass. 364, 548 N.E.2d 180, 181 (1990). However, the first clause of section 2 limits recovery to a class of persons. It provides for recovery of compensatory damages by 'the persons entitled to receive the damages recovered' and limits the class to those persons 'as provided in section .'  See Burt v. Meyer, 400 Mass. 185, 508 N.E.2d 598, 602 (1987) (adopting interpretation proposed in Guy v. Johnson, 15 Mass.App.Ct. 757, 448 N.E.2d 1142, 1144-45 (1983)). If the class of presumptive takers, as defined in section 1, is to recover under section 2, they must then prove that the decedent had monetary value to them. See Burt, 508 N.E.2d at 602; Guy, 448 N.E.2d at 1144. 56 We find no support in Massachusetts statutory or case law for the United States' contention that adult children must be financially dependent upon their decedent in order to be entitled to recover damages under section 2 of the wrongful death statute. To the contrary, the plain language of section 1(3) of the wrongful death statute makes the surviving spouse and children presumptive takers without mentioning any requirement that they be dependent. Moreover, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has approved the award of damages to relatives who were not financially dependent upon the decedent. See Santos v. Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co., 408 Mass. 70, 556 N.E.2d 983, 988 n. 10 (1990) (parents of deceased adult unmarried child may recover damages under section 2 as next of kin for purposes of section 1); Schultz, 548 N.E.2d at 182 (same); cf. Bratcher v. Galusha, 417 Mass. 28, 627 N.E.2d 908 (1994) (father of deceased adult married child was not entitled to recover damages under section 2 because, under section 1, the surviving spouse was the only presumptive taker); Norman v. Massachusetts Bay Transp. Auth., 403 Mass. 303, 529 N.E.2d 139, 142 (1988) (noting, in dicta, that if child had died rather than merely been injured, parents would have been entitled to recover under section 2 for loss of consortium); Guy, 448 N.E.2d at 1145 (father of deceased minor child was presumptive taker under section 1). Similarly, at least one federal district court has explicitly decided that adult children are presumptive takers in a claim under section 2 for the death of their parent. See Knowlton v. Spillane, 137 F.R.D. 196, 197 (D.Mass.1991); cf. Poyser v. United States, 602 F.Supp. 436 (D.Mass.1984) (mother of a minor daughter was a presumed taker under section 1(4)). 57 Indeed, a situation identical to this case seems to have arisen in Burt v. Meyer, 400 Mass. 185, 508 N.E.2d 598 (1987). After the trial of the wrongful death action brought by the executrix of the estate of the decedent, the jury awarded, inter alia, $174,000 in compensatory damages for the benefit of the widow, and $20,000 for the benefit of each of the decedent's four children by a previous marriage. On appeal, the adult children of the decedent argued that the distribution of an award under section 2 was subject to the constraints of section 1, which they claimed entitled them to two thirds of the entire award. The Supreme Judicial Court rejected this argument, holding that a presumptive taker is entitled to nothing beyond what it is proven at trial he or she lost as a result of the decedent's death. More importantly, however, the Court affirmed the original award to the children. Although the Court's decision does not specifically state that the children were non-dependent adults, that fact could fairly be inferred. 5 58 Nevertheless, we affirm the trial judge's award of damages. The trial judge heard testimony from all of Mr. Hassey's children as to their relationship with him and the effect that his death has had upon them. The fact that the judge did so even after the Government had vigorously argued that the children were not entitled to recover under section 2 indicates that the judge correctly understood that Mr. Hassey's children were presumptive takers under section 1. 59 After hearing the children's testimony, the trial judge still chose to award them nothing. Upon reviewing the relevant portion of the trial transcript, we find that it would not have been error for the trial judge to find that the loss suffered by the decedent's children did not exceed such grief, anguish, and bereavement as one may normally expect upon the death of a parent. As the Administratrix admits in her brief, recovery under section 2 was not intended to include components of 'grief, anguish and bereavement of the survivors.'  MacCuish v. Volkswagenwerk, A.G., 22 Mass.App.Ct. 380, 494 N.E.2d 390, 398 (1986). 6 60 Finally, although the United States is technically correct in pointing out that the trial judge should have awarded damages to the Administratrix, rather than to Mrs. Hassey, the error is merely one of form. Pursuant to section 2 of the statute, [d]amages under this section shall be recovered in an action of tort by the executor or administrator of the deceased. However, the procedural framework of the wrongful death statute, through which an administrator brings an action on behalf of the next of kin, [does not make] each person who has suffered consortium-like damages any less injured. To hold otherwise would elevate form over substance, looking less at the question, 'who is injured,' and more at the question, 'who is technically bringing the suit.'  Santos, 556 N.E.2d at 988. 61 The Supreme Judicial Court has therefore approved of verdicts awarding different amounts to each person recovering under section 2. See Burt, 508 N.E.2d at 602 ($174,000 for widow and $20,000 for each child); Guy, 448 N.E.2d at 1145 ($37,786.06 for mother and $103.41 for father). Indeed, in Guy, the Court approved of the decision of the probate judge to distribute the award of compensatory damages obtained in a wrongful death suit in accordance with the jury verdict. 62 The trial judge in this case, therefore, did not err in determining the specific amount that Mrs. Evelyn Hassey was entitled to receive. Instead, the only error he committed was to enter judgment in her name, rather than in the name of the Administratrix. The error is easily corrected. We thus resolve to modify the judgment to clarify that the nominal recipient of the award is the Administratrix of the Estate of Alfred J. Hassey, for the benefit of Evelyn Hassey. Of course, when the assets of the estate are distributed, the probate judge will distribute the compensatory damages awarded in this suit in accordance with the trial judge's findings. 63 For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment entered by the district court, as modified by this opinion.