Jacksonville Electric Co. v. Bowden

Citations

• 54 Fla. 461

Syllabus

<p>1. The statute making a corporation liable for the death of a person caused by the wrongful act, negligence, carelessness or default of the corporation or its agent, and providing that if there be no widow or husband, or minor' child or dependents, “then the action may be maintained by the executor or administrator, as the case may be, of the person so killed; and in every such action, the jury shall give such damages as the party or parties entitled to sue may have sustained by reason of the death of the party killed,” should be given some effect consistent with its legal meaning and the purposes designed to be accomplished by its enactment, to-wit: compensation for the death of the person killed. When an administrator brings an action under the statute his rights and duties when not expressed in the statute are to be determined by the law regulating the rights and duties of an administrator.</p> <p>2. When an administrator has a right of action under the statute imposing a liability for the wrongful death of a person he may recover the value at the decedent’s death of the prospective earnings and savings that from the evidence could reasonably have been expected but for the death of the decedent.</p> <p>3. In the nature of things an exact and uniform rule for measuring the value of the life of a deceased person to designated beneficiaries or to his estate is not practicable if possible. The elements which enter into the value of a life to the estate of a deceased person are so various and contingent that they must be left under proper instructions from the court to the determination of the jury based, on proper testimony applicable to the particular case. The jury have no arbitrary discretion, but among other proper elements they may consider, evidence as to the age, probable duration of life, habits of industry, means, business, earnings, health and skill of the deceased, and his reasonable future expectations. (Taylor and Hocker, JJ., dissent.)</p>