Court Opinion

ID: 9662248
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:04:00.644326+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:37.998633
License: Public Domain

SIMONETT, Justice
(concurring specialty)-
I concur in the majority opinion with these added comments. Where one of the next-of-kin beneficiaries is also the tort-feasor, there may be instances when the amount of the negotiated death settlement has been substantially discounted for that tortfeasor’s fault. While the trial court does not decide fault issues in an application for distribution of the settlement, it does seem to me there may be occasions where the trial court would consider whether such a discount occurred and, if so, its effect on the fairness of the settlement distribution.
No such discount was asserted here. Even if such a claim had been made, it appears that Mrs. Swenson, the mother and apparently the custodial parent, has likely sustained the greatest pecuniary loss, a loss that more than offsets any discount for her fault. The trustee and family members have agreed on an equal share distribution, and no evidence was presented to show this proposal was unfair. So many different factors go into a negotiated settlement that it is risky to give much weight ordinarily to any discount for fault. Certainly none need be given here. Allocating pecuniary worth shares within a family circle where one is dealing with such intangible intimacies as comfort, companionship and counsel is, at best, imprecise, and one must rely on rough approximations and basic fairness.