Section 16 Nominal Damages

• Library: Damages 2012

Even in the absence of any actual damage, a plaintiff in a wrongful death action may recover nominal damages. State ex rel. Kansas City Stock Yards Co. of Me. v. Clark, 536 S.W.2d 142, 149 (Mo. banc 1976) (citing Aubuchon v. LaPlant, 435 S.W.2d 648, 652 (Mo. 1968)).

In Stroud v. Masek, 262 S.W.2d 47 (Mo. 1953), for example, a widow sued for the wrongful death of her husband and failed, at trial, to prove any loss for which she, at the time, was entitled to recover. The Supreme Court of Missouri held that she...