Opinion ID: 1134542
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: lost investment damages

Text: Plaintiffs offered testimony of an economist as to cost of investment of the parents in the birth and rearing of the deceased as a measure of damages under the wrongful death act. Although Michigan has accepted this lost investment theory, Wycko v. Gnodtke, 361 Mich. 331, 105 N.W.2d 118 (1960); Wilson v. Modern Mobile Homes, Inc., 376 Mich. 342, 137 N.W.2d 144, we consider the approach to be inconsistent with accepted measures of such damages. We have allowed consideration of future earnings as a proper factor in arriving at such damages. Coliseum Motor Co. v. Hester, 43 Wyo. 298, 3 P.2d 105 (1931); Muir v. Haggerty, 77 Wyo. 280, 314 P.2d 948 (1957). To allow recovery for loss of the fruit of the investment and at the same time allow recovery of the investment itself is somewhat inconsistent. Further, the statute allows recovery for the benefit of other than parents, i.e., intestate heirs, Muir v. Haggerty, supra , and for loss of the parent itself, Jordan v. Delta Drilling Company, Wyo., 541 P.2d 39 (1975). The wrongful death statute does not preclude a different measure of damages for different beneficiaries, but it does place a heavy burden upon a jury to assess damages, including damages for loss of probable future companionship, society and comfort. The use of the lost investment theory could unduly emphasize the investment aspect. The simple facts are that the loss of companionship, society and comfort could be greater for a small child in which there has been far less investment than in an 18-year-old, and that the loss of companionship, society and comfort could be just as great, or greater, to parents of a low-income family who have been unable to invest a great deal in their child as such is to parents of wealth who have spent a large amount on their child. In short, we can not accept an investment of the money spent in birth and rearing of children as a proper measure of damages under the wrongful death statute.