ABSTRACT
Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, state legislatures created wrongful death claims, including claims for bereaved parents against the tortfeasor who killed their child. Legislatures limited recoverable damages to pecuniary damages, meaning parents could recover the lost economic contributions they expected to receive from their child during his minority, minus the costs of raising the child. That pecuniary damage measure still controls today, with most states now also allowing recovery of noneconomic loss-of-relationship damages, although many states also cap the recovery of noneconomic damages. In sum, parents’ recovery of damages for their child’s death – a personal and cultural tragedy – is limited to pecuniary damages, which today’s parents lack, and a possibly capped noneconomic damage award …
Lens, Jill Wieber, Children, Wrongful Death, and Punitive Damages (March 1, 2019). Boston University Law Review, forthcoming.
First posted 2019-03-26 07:10:01
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