From Our Readers
| Publication year | 1985 |
| Pages | 981 |
| Citation | Vol. 14 No. 6 Pg. 981 |
1985, June, Pg. 981. From our Readers
A recent article in The Colorado Lawyer ("Measure of Economic Loss in the Wrongful Death of a Child," March 1985 at 392) on the subject of computing the economic value of a child in a wrongful death litigation could be potentially problematic for a trial lawyer representing the plaintiff in such an action. The author, Dr. Patricia L. Pacey, may have inadvertently suggested a procedure which has not yet been accepted in Colorado. One of Dr. Pacey's suggested methods of analysis "considers the expenditures for raising a child as an investment in 'human capital.'" Her statement that "the capitalized net present value of probable parental expenditures over an eighteen-year period is a reasonable measure of value foregone" suggests that the pecuniary or monetary worth of past investment (and its earnings) in a child can be sought in wrongful death litigation (for a child who was 18 years old at death). Her rationale is that the parents of the deceased child have chosen to spend money to raise the child (the "human" capital) rather than spending those funds on an income-producing non-human asset (such as a building or a machine). Thus, if the child is wrongfully killed, a measure of the damage to the parents is the capitalized value of the past investment in the child. This reasoning is sound, from an economic standpoint, but unfortunately the Colorado Supreme Court, in the case of Kogul v. Sonheim, 372 P.2d 731 (1962), specifically rejected the "human capital" theory of damages for the wrongful death of a child.
At issue here are two different bases for damage. The first is the "net pecuniary loss" rule which is followed in Colorado; the second is the "human capital" view suggested by Dr. Pacey which is followed in Michigan (and some other jurisdictions) but which is not yet followed in Colorado. The "net pecuniary loss" rule is future oriented, whereas the "human capital" view is past oriented.
The "net pecuniary loss" rule holds that the damage to the parents from the wrongful death of a child arises from their being denied the economic value of the aid, service, assistance, and support which the child might reasonably have been expected to provide to the parents from the date of death and onward (in the future) had the child not been wrongfully killed.
The "human...
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