Court Opinion

ID: 9858918
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 17:21:13.261963+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:58:09.085859
License: Public Domain

Hall, J.,
Specially Concurring.
I concur in the result reached in this ease but not in all that is said in the controlling opinion.
Judge Roberds says that it is illogical and unjust to permit a recovery by the parents for the net cash value of the life of the deceased. Section 1453, Code of 1942, specifically provides that the jury in a death action may take into consideration “all the damages of every kind and character to the decedent and all damages of every kind to all parties interested in the suit.” The plaintiffs.are entitled to the damages which they have sustained which includes such items as loss of companionship, loss of contributions which they may reasonably expect to have received from the decedent, and medical, hospital and burial expenses. Then, in addition, but without pyramiding the damages so as to obtain a double recovery, they are entitled to recover all damages of every kind to the decedent. The statute specifically fixes this, and it includes such items as pain and suffering of the decedent, and we have held in at least four cases that the present net cash value of the life of the deceased is one of the elements of damage to the decedent. The defendant has damaged the decedent to this extent and it is no more illogical and unjust to allow the parents recovery of this item than it is to allow them to inherit any other estate that the deceased may have left.
Lee, Kyle, Holmes, Arrington, Ethridge and Gillespie, JJ., concur.