Hewlett v. George

Citations

• 68 Miss. 703

Syllabus

<p>1. Witness. Claim against estate. Code I860, § 1602. Death of defendant.</p> <p>TJuder § 1602, code 1880, which, makes one incompetent as a witness to establish his own claim against the estate of a decedent, the deposition of a plaintiff, taken during the lifetime of the defendant and pending suit, cannot he read on the trial after defendant’s death and revivor against his personal representative.</p> <p>2. Same. Death of defendant pending suit. Competency of plaintiff'.</p> <p>Such deposition is not made competent because defendant, being a woman, was entitled to rebut the same by having her own deposition taken, which, in case of her death, could be read in evidence by her legal representative.</p> <p>3. Action for Personal Injuries. Death of defendant. Punitive damages. Code 1880, § 2080.</p> <p>The right to recover punitive damages for personal injuries ceases with the death of the wrong-doer, although the death occurs after action begun against him. Only compensatory damages can be recovered from the personal representative. Code 1880, § 2080.</p> <p>4. Damages. Compensation. False imprisonment. Injury to reputation, etc.</p> <p>Compensatory damages are not necessarily limited to actual money losses. For an unlawful incarceration of plaintiff by defendant in an insane asylum compensation may be had, not only for money expended in procuring a release, but for consequent humiliation, shame, disgrace, and injury to reputation. Compensation for these, not being punitive damages, may be recovered after the death of the defendant from his personal representative.</p> <p>5. Personal Injuries. Action by child against parent. Public policy.</p> <p>A parent is not civilly liable to a child for personal injuries inflicted during minority, and while the relation of parent and child, with its mutual obligations, exists.</p>