Damages For Wrongful Death Court Cases

Vogler v. Blackmore involved a truck accident where an eighteen-wheel tractor trailer crossed the highway center-line and ran over a car, killing a mother and her daughter. The jury found the truck company liable and awarded $200,000 in damages to the estates of both the mother and daughter.

Judge Edith Brown Clement reversed on the damages for pain and suffering, reducing the award to the mother's estate to $30,000 and eliminating entirely the award for the daughter's pain and suffering. Judge Brown, in justifying the elimination of all damages to the daughter's estate, argued that there was no specific evidence of her "awareness of the impending collision." Judge Reavley, in dissent, criticized the majority for violating the "rule of deference to jury verdicts" and noted that "[w]hile no witness could testify to screams of or terror" it is certainly "reasonable to believe that this young girl experienced terrible fright and some pain . . ." Volger v. Blackmore, 352 F.3d 150 (5th Cir. 2003)