Court Opinion

ID: 9739776
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:20:41.254344+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:13.847903
License: Public Domain

ENGLISH, P. J., specially concurring: I agree that the judgment should be affirmed. I also agree that there was basis in the evidence to sustain the amount of the judgment, even though some of the testimony concerning decedent’s monetary contributions to his parents appears to have been greatly exaggerated, if not downright perjurious.* Since there was, however, other sufficient evidence to support the verdict, I consider both unnecessary and incorrect the statements in the majority opinion to the effect that the presumption of pecuniary injury in favor of lineal kinsmen is applicable to the facts of this case. I am in agreement with the scholarly opinion of the Fourth District Court in Barrow v. Lence, 17 Ill App2d 527, 151 NE2d 120. The points covered in that opinion were so skillfully set forth that I shall not attempt to restate them here. As I read it, the language of the courts in Hall v. Gillins, 13 Ill2d 26, 147 NE2d 352 and Dodson v. Richter, 34 Ill App2d 22, 180 NE2d 505 ** takes nothing from the Barrow opinion. The contrary comments of the majority, and their reliance on these cases indicate, I believe, a misunderstanding of what was said in Barrow. I conclude that the presumption in question is not appropriately invoked in the case at bar.   Decedent’s sister testified that in 1959 and 1960 he gave to his parents $20 per week in cash and made a monthly mortgage payment on their behalf in the amount of $135. Employers for whom decedent worked during those years testified (on behalf of plaintiff) that his earnings averaged less than $40 per week.    The complaint in Hall sought to establish “hitherto unrecognized common law rights of action for the destruction of the family unit” wholly outside the wrongful death action provided by statute. The plaintiffs were the widow and nine-year-old child of the decedent. Dismissal of the complaint was affirmed. Dodson was a wrongful death action brought on behalf of a widower and three minor children for the death of their wife and mother. The opinion recites the very extensive services which had been performed for the benefit of the family by the decedent.