Section 25 Earning Capacity

• Library: Damages 2012

The earning capacity of the decedent is proper for consideration by the jury in assessing pecuniary damages. Ransom v. Adams Dairy Co., 684 S.W.2d 915, 918 (Mo. App. E.D. 1985) (citing Grothe v. St. Louis-San Francisco Ry. Co., 460 S.W.2d 711, 718 (Mo. 1970)). Proof of that earning capacity is not necessarily limited to a showing of earnings at the time of death or injury. Shepard v. Harris, 329 S.W.2d 1, 11 (Mo. banc 1959). Additionally, evidence of the deceased’s “habits of industry, economy, etc.” is...