Faber v. Gimbel Bros.

Citations

• 264 Pa. 1
• 107 A. 222
• 1919 Pa. LEXIS 575

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Damages — Personal injury — Decreased earning power — Person engaged in a small business — Profits—Evidence.</p> <p>1. Evidence of earnings from a small business in which the plaintiff was engaged as a partner before and after the accident, is admissible to show decreased earning power as the result of an injury, where it appears that the business, which had only a nominal capital, required plaintiff’s entire time, labor and skill and had no earning power except that resulting from profits from such labor and,skill, since in no other way could the decreased earning power be shown.</p> <p>Negligence — Damages—Present value tables — Actions for personal injuries — Partial disability — Evidence — Inaccurate use of tables — Bemarks of counsel.</p> <p>2. Tables showing the present value of a fixed sum of money payable in weekly installments during a period of years representing the expectation of life of the plaintiff, according to the mortality tables, are admissible in evidence in actions for damages for personal injuries resulting in partial impairment of earning capacity, as well as in eases of total disability.</p> <p>3. An inaccurate use of figures by counsel in addressing the jury as to the use of the value tables, is not ground for reversal, where it does not appear that the jury were misled, or that they adopted the method used by counsel in his illustration, and it did appear that the jury had the tables before them in their deliberations, and that they could see for themselves at a glance, the present value of a sum of money for a given number of years.</p>