Damages in a wrongful death case are fraught with complex issues and legal challenges. While it is easy to understand the emotional impact that a death may have on a surviving relative who has lost a loved one, evidence of that raw emotional loss may not be relevant in a wrongful death case. Historically, at common law, the personal injury claim died with the decedent. Today, statutory enactments in New York allow for wrongful death claims. The statutes, however, limit the recovery for wrongful death to pecuniary loss, or what might better be termed as a financial loss. In other words, the grief, pain and suffering experienced by a loved one is simply not a proper item of damages in New York, and jurors are instructed not to award any monetary compensation for such losses (PJI 2:320).

Of course, recovery may still be obtained for pain and suffering experienced by the decedent prior to his death, but obtaining a just and proper award from a jury for these damages can also be challenging given that the person who experienced that pain and suffering is dead. Thus, in any wrongful death case, an effective trial attorney must thoroughly prepare for all stages of the trial in order to obtain an appropriate and handsome jury verdict. Included in such preparation is a well-planned voir dire that explores the feelings and beliefs of the potential jurors, and a strong summation that relates those feelings and beliefs to the evidence.

The Voir Dire

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