29.11 Damages Recoverable.

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

29.11 Damages Recoverable. The damages in a wrongful death action are based on each statutory beneficiary’s injuries as a result of the wrongful death, not the nature of the negligent act.⁶⁶ A wrongful death jury is instructed to “give such damages as it deems fair and just with reference to the injury resulting from the death to the surviving parties who may be entitled to recover.”⁶⁷ This is an individualized inquiry specific to each plaintiff or statutory beneficiary, so the result is a single verdict with specific and distinct damage awards for each statutory beneficiary.⁶⁸

Beneficiaries of a decedent are entitled to both pecuniary and compensatory damages.⁶⁹ Pecuniary losses include the loss of income expected to be earned by the decedent, death and burial expenses, and the costs of medical treatment related to the injury that caused death (if paid or owed by the surviving beneficiary).⁷⁰ Among the compensatory losses are “loss of affection, companionship, care, protection, guidance, and discipline,”⁷¹ and “anguish, sorrow, stress, mental suffering, pain and shock” resulting from the loss of the decedent.⁷²

Revised Arizona Jury Instructions – Personal Injury Damages 3 summarizes the various damages that a statutory beneficiary may recover for wrongful...