Fairfax Injury Lawyer Brien Roche Addresses Wrongful Death Values
Brien Roche

Wrongful Death Values Vary

Wrongful death values can vary greatly.  They can vary from one part of the state to another.  They can vary depending upon the amount of economic loss.  The economic loss may be actual loss of income, the value of loss of services or medical expenses.  They can also vary based upon how compelling the evidence is as to the non-economic loss.  The non-economic loss is the grief, sorrow and solace suffered by those who are left behind.  That mental suffering may to some extent be a result of how much mental and/or physical suffering was experienced by the decedent.  The more horrific that suffering was, then the more horrific is the suffering of the people left behind.  Wilson v. Whittaker, 207 Va. 1032, 154 S.E.2d 124 (1967)

Across the state of Virginia, verdicts and settlements show that there can be large recoveries even where there is very little monetary (economic) loss.  What follows is a summary of many such outcomes whether they be by verdict or by settlement. 

Wrongful Death Values-Cases

An April 1999 auto crash that left behind a widow and four adult children in Richmond Circuit Court resulted in a jury award of $3.19 Million. 

A settlement in 2000 was reached also in the Richmond Circuit Court in the case of Fleming v. Empire Beef.  The decedent was 22 years old.  She was an unemployed mother of four children.  She had very little work history.  She was a welfare recipient.  The settlement was for $4.25 Million.  

In 2001 in rural Buena Vista Circuit Court, a jury awarded $3.7 Million.  The decedent was a 66 year-old woman who was killed by a Greyhound bus.  The case is Lomax v. Cothran.  The beneficiaries were a husband in poor health and two adopted adult children.  There were no economic losses except for a funeral bill and medical bills totaling $220,0000.  The jury verdict was for $3,719,358.86.

In Shepard v. Capitol Foundry of Virginia, 232 Va. 715, 554 S.E.2d 72 (2001), the Virginia Supreme court upheld a $1.76 Million Petersburg jury verdict.  The decedent was a 67 year-old woman.  Her husband was 83 years old.  There were six adult children.  There was no evidence of economic loss.

In Mosely v. Bennett, a Newport News jury in 2002 awarded $6,357,030.  The decedent was an infant.  The monetary damages were funeral expenses and medical bills totaling $206,000.

In 2002 a case pending in Fairfax Circuit Court settled for $4 Million.  The decedent was a construction foreman.  There were no economic losses.  

In Allen v. Mid-Atlantic Health Alliance, a Fredericksburg jury in June of 2003 awarded $6.5 Million.  The amount would be reduced to the medical malpractice cap.  

In July of 2005 a jury in Fairfax Circuit Court awarded $3.4 Million.  The decedent was a 43 year-old dentist.  The decedent left behind a husband and three young children.  

A jury in Fairfax Circuit Court in June of 2005 awarded $1.97 Million.  The only economic damages were funeral expenses.  The survivor was the father of the young man who was killed.  The father and son had lived together up until about six months prior to the death.  

In the Newport News case of Jones v. John Crane, Inc., a jury awarded $10.4 Million in an asbestosis case.

In June of 2006 a Richmond jury awarded $1,074,190.86.  The survivors were the husband and an adult daughter.  The decedent was a 54 year-old cancer patient.  The economic losses were $74,190.80 in medical bills and funeral expenses.  

In the case of Gray v. Rhodes, a Charlottesville jury awarded $4.5 Million against the police officers who killed a 26 year-old black man who was the father of two children.  The verdict included $3.5 Million in compensatory damages and $1 Million in punitive damages.

In Chu v. Danella, a Fairfax County jury awarded $8 Million in March of 2006 to the family of a 17 year-old high school student who was killed in a rear-end accident.  The verdict included $3 Million to each of the two parents and $2 Million to an adult sister.  The award was solely for non-economic damages.  

In 2007 an asbestosis case was settled in Newport News for $9.25 Million.  

In February of 2007 a Prince Edward jury awarded $3 Million in Marker v. Evans.  The survivors were the wife and daughters.  There was lost income of $897,757.00.

In Crump v. Hoover, a Rockingham County jury awarded $3.1 Million against American HomePatient, Inc.  The survivors were three children and a spouse.  The verdict was in October of 2007.

In December of 2008 the case in Rockingham County of Stevens v. Inland Trucking settled for $1,483,694.97, with special damages only of $27,287.41.

In October of 2008 a Fairfax County case was settled for $2.5 Million.  The survivors were a wife of 24 years and two children, aged 18 and 24.

In 2008 a Prince William County jury awarded $2.5 Million in the case of Kurek v. East Coast Truck Lines.  The decedent was a 74 year-old.  He left behind his wife who was 75 years old and four adult children.  There were no economic losses claimed.

In 2008 a case settled in Nelson County for $1,250,000 where there were no appreciable special damages in the case.

In February of 2008 a case in Rockingham Circuit Court settled for $1.48 Million.  The decedent was 48 years old.  The survivors were two adult daughters, 29 and 27.  The decedent was unemployed at the time.  

In the case of Trollinger v. Dot Transportation pending in Norfolk Circuit Court, the case settled in February of 2009 for $1,525,000.  The survivors were a wife and two sons from a previous marriage.  The youngest son was autistic.  The defense argued that the autistic son did not understand the loss.  

In Browder v. Gamache, in Spotsylvania Circuit Court, a jury returned a verdict for $7.5 Million in a failure to diagnose case.  There were medical expenses of $212,000 and $785,000 in economic losses.  The balance of the verdict was for solace.  The verdict would be eventually reduced to the cap.

In June of 2009 two wrongful death cases settled in Richmond Circuit Court, each one for $1 Million.  One case involved a 17 year-old daughter who was a beneficiary and a 26 year-old  son.  The other case involved a 19 year-old and 20 year-old who were the surviving children.  There were no economic losses in either case.  

In the fall of 2009 a jury in Albemarle County returned a verdict of $5,265,000 in Aichs v. Swisher.  The decedent was a 16 year-old.  He was survived by his mother, father and brother.  

In December of 2010 there was a settlement of $3.5 Million in Portsmouth Circuit Court where the sole beneficiary was a 5 year-old girl.  The special damages were $100,000.  The decedent was a 25 year-old man who was employed and paying child support for his 5 year-old daughter.  The decedent and the mother had never married and they did not live together at the time of the wreck.  Economic damages were limited to the child support and health insurance benefits through age 22 for the child.

In Bristow v. John Crane, Inc. a Newport News jury returned a verdict for $9.18 Million.  $3.5 Million was to compensate for the pain and suffering of the decedent and $2 Million for the losses suffered by the widow.  There was also $1.25 Million awarded to each of two sons.  There was also $780,000 awarded to the widow to compensate her for what she had to go through while her husband was sick.  There were medical expenses of $141,295, funeral expenses of $11,611 and $250,000 for loss of services that had been previously performed by the decedent.  

In March of 2012, a Montgomery County Circuit Court returned a verdict against Virginia Tech in favor of two families, each in the amount of $4 Million for the loss of their children from the Virginia Tech shooting.  These verdicts were subsequently set aside.  Since the decedents were students, there presumably was no economic loss.  

In January of 2013, there was a $4.6 Million settlement in Fairfax Circuit Court where the decedent was survived by his wife and one year-old daughter.  The decedent had a modest history of earnings.

In Bratton v. Dupree, a jury awarded a total of $5,000,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.  This was in the Roanoke Circuit Court.  Each defendant was ordered to pay $2.5 Million.  In each case the award of compensatory damages was $2 Million.  The award of punitive damages was $500,000.

In Burgsteiner v. Vitran Express, in Chesapeake Circuit Court a case settled for $3.4 Million involving the death of a pregnant woman.  She left behind a husband and two children.  

In Woodley v. School Board of Southhampton County, Virginia, et al., a jury returned a verdict of $4,357,431 with special damages of $7,431.  This was in April of 2014.  The defendant was the local school board.  The case involved a school bus collision with the death of a 4 year-old.

In Montes v. The Virginia Beach School Board, a settlement was reached in the amount of $2.5 Million in August of 2016, relating to the death of Montes.  Montes was in the Navy and married with two children.

In McCormick v. Hooper, a settlement was reached in the amount of $4 Million for a boating accident wherein Hooper ran the boat aground, resulting in the death of McCormick.  Hooper thereafter fled the scene.  Recovery was limited to non-economic damages.  This was in Richmond Circuit Court.

In Curtis v. Pelton & Warner Enterprises, a Richmond Federal jury awarded $1.25 Million for the wrongful death of the 78 year-old mother.  The sole beneficiary was her 54 year-old daughter who lived in Alabama.  The mother was insulin-dependent, had hypertension and obesity.  Her life expectancy was another 3 to 5 years.

In Holstine v. CSX Transportation, Inc., the decedent was a 15 year-old boy.  The settlement was $4,577,000.

In Taylor’s Administrator v. Nickens, a Lancaster County jury returned a verdict for $1,008,977.99 for the death of a 66 year-old woman.  The special damages were $166,477.83.  

In Stevenson v. Hastie and Lincare, Inc., a Richmond Circuit Court jury returned a verdict of $3,209,206.35 for the wrongful death of a wife.  She was the mother of four grown children.  Loss of services income amounted to $190,000.  Medical, funeral and burial expenses were $19,206.35.  The balance was for non-economic damages.

A Norfolk Circuit Court jury awarded $2 Million to the parents of a 9 year-old who died after a heart condition was misdiagnosed and left untreated in the case of Wood v. Carleo.

In Allen v. City of Petersburg, a couple in their 70s were killed by a police cruiser.  The case settled for $2.4 Million.  The beneficiaries were four adult children, one of whom lived with the parents because he was disabled and dependent on them for support.

A Fairfax County case settled two weeks before trial in the amount of $2,162,000 where the decedent, Patrick Ott, was survived by his wife and 13 year-old son and three adult children from a prior marriage and an adult stepson.  

Many of these cases identify what the economic loss was that was claimed.  Some do not.  To the extent that the economic loss either was identified or can be determined, then that would mean that the balance of the award/settlement was for non-economic loss.  What follows is a summary of those cases wherein the non-economic loss either is stated or can be identified, and then an average is provided.  

That average is just that.  The average does not tell you how many beneficiaries there were nor does it tell you what the nature of the relationship was between the decedent and the beneficiaries.  All it tells you is simply the amount that either was awarded or that was paid in settlement designated for the non-economic loss.  

Wrongful Death Values-Non Economic Loss

  • Fleming:  $4.25 Million
  • Lomax:  $3,499,358.86
  • Shepard:  $1.76 Million
  • Mosely:  $6,151,030.00
  • 2002 Fairfax County:  $4 Million
  • 2005 Fairfax County:  $1,970,000
  • 2006 Richmond:  $1 Million
  • Gray:  $3.5 Million
  • Chu:  $8 Million
  • Marker:  $2,102,243
  • Stevens:  $1,456,407.56
  • Kurek:  $2.5 Million
  • 2008 Nelson County:  $1.25 Million
  • 2008 Rockingham County:  $1.48 Million
  • Browder:  $6,503,000
  • 2009 Richmond:  $2 Million 
  • Aichs:  $5,265,000
  • 2010 Portsmouth:  $3.4 Million
  • 2012 Montgomery County: $4 Million  
  • 2013 Fairfax:  $4.6 Million
  • Woodley:  $4.35 Million
  • McCormick:  $4 Million
  • Curtis:  $1.25 Million
  • Holstine:  $4,557,000
  • Taylor’s Administrator:  $842,500.16
  • Stevenson:  $3 Million
  • Wood:  $2 Million
  • Allen:  $2.4 Million

Total:  $91,086,539.58 ÷ 28 = $3,253,090.70 (Average)

Call, or contact us for a free consult. For more information on wrongful death see the page on Wikipedia dealing with death cases.

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Brien Roche

Brien A. Roche has been an attorney since 1976. Mr. Roche is admitted to practice in Virginia, the District of Columbia, and Maryland. In addition to his busy law practice, Mr. Roche is also a published author of several books & articles relating to the practice of law.

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