Last year the Court of Appeals held in Toledo v. Iglesia Ni Christo1 that plaintiffs can recover pre-verdict interest on future damages in a wrongful death case, where the jury's award of future damages is discounted to the date of death. The court, however, left open the question of whether the specific method used by the plaintiff in Toledo was proper. In this article we will propose the proper method that should be used in future cases.
'Milbrandt'
To understand how the calculation should be done, we must start with the Court of Appeals' decision in Milbrandt v. A.P. Green Refractories,2 which first addressed pre-verdict interest in wrongful death cases. In Milbrandt, a jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $432,000 for past pecuniary losses and $187,000 for future care and support. The amount for future care and support represented the present value at the time of the verdict since the jury had been instructed to discount the future damages to the present value at the date of the verdict. The clerk then awarded pre-verdict interest on the entire verdict amount ($619,000). The defendant objected, arguing that because the jury's future award had been discounted to the date of the verdict by the jury, that amount already included pre-verdict interest obviating the need for a further calculation of pre-verdict interest.
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