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Ruttley v. Lee5/17/2000
a, the trial court has the discretion to award pain and suffering to a decedent in the absence of testimony regarding the decedent's pain and suffering. In this case, Ms. Hunter-Amedee testified that Stacey was breathing lightly and had a pulse. The trial court was within its discretion to find that Stacey survived the impact for a short time and suffered before her death. According to Youn v. Maritime Overseas Corp., 623 So.2d 1257, 1261 (La.1993), an appellate court should not disturb an award for general damages unless the trier of fact abused the much discretion accorded to it. The trial court, we find, did not abuse its discretion in awarding $150,000.00 in survival damages to Mrs. Ruttley for Stacey's pain and suffering.
BYSTANDER DAMAGES
Jefferson Parish argues that the trial court erred in awarding bystander damages to Mrs. Ruttley and Ms. Bolotte. Jefferson Parish argues that Mrs. Ruttley should not be awarded bystander damages because she did not see her daughter's body. Jefferson Parish maintains that the body's condition changed because a plastic tarp had been draped over it. Mrs. Ruttley responds that she was traumatized by the events at the scene of the accident. Jefferson Parish also argues that Ms. Bolotte should not be awarded bystander damages because she was not at the scene when her sister's body was still in the car. Ms. Bolotte responds that she was properly awarded damages because she saw all of the blood in the vehicle after the corner removed her sister's body.
In Louisiana, one can recover mental anguish damages for the negligent injuries sustained by a third person. Lejeune v. Rayne Branch Hosp., 556 So.2d 559, 570 (La.1990). Since the Lejeune decision, the Louisiana legislature codified the ruling in Lejeune in LSA- C.C. art. 2315.6.
Art. 2315.6. Liability for damages caused by injury to another:
A. The following persons who view an event causing injury to another person, or who come upon the scene of the event soon thereafter, may recover damages for mental anguish or emotional distress that they suffer as a result of the other person's injury:
(1) The spouse, child or children, and grandchild or grandchildren of the injured person, or either the spouse, the child or children, or the grandchild or grandchildren of the injured person.
(1) The father and mother of the injured person, or either of them.
(2) The brothers and sisters of the injured person or any of them.
(3) The grandfather and grandmother of the injured person, or either of them.
B. To recover for mental anguish or emotional distress under this Article, the injured person must suffer such harm that one can reasonably expect a person in the claimant's position to suffer serious mental anguish or emotional distress from the experience, and the claimant's mental anguish or emotional distress must be severe, debilitating, and foreseeable. Damages suffered as a result of mental anguish or emotional distress for injury to another shall be recovered only in accordance with this Article.
In Trahan v. McManus, 97-1224 (La. 3/2/99), 728 So.2d 1273, 1279, the Supreme Court explained the requirements of recovering bystander damages, stating that:
The requirements of Article 2315.6, when read together, suggest a need for temporal proximity between the tortious event, the victim's observable harm, and the plaintiff's mental distress arising from an awareness of the harm caused by the event. (FN8) The Legislature apparently intended to allow recovery of bystander damages to compensate for the immediate shock of witnessing a traumatic event which caused the direct victim immedia
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