 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Depouw v. Bichette7/15/2005
{ } Jessica Bichette is appealing the judgment of the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court that allowed a jury award to the plaintiff, Megan Depouw, for her husband's lost wages.
{ } Jessica Bichette and Megan Depouw were involved in a car accident in April 2001 in Kettering, Ohio. Mrs. Depouw was injured in the accident and was taken to the hospital. After an examination, Mrs. Depouw was released from the hospital with her left arm in a sling, her right arm in a cast, and a fractured collarbone. At the time of the accident, Mr. Depouw was at a hockey game. The police contacted him, and he left the game to go to the hospital. Over the next 11 days, Mr. Depouw took vacation leave from work in order to stay home with Mrs. Depouw and care for her. Mr. Depouw testified that he stayed home to care for Mrs. Depouw because she needed help bathing, going to the bathroom, and other tasks.
{ } Nearly two years after the accident, the Depouws filed a complaint against Bichette for negligence and loss of consortium due to the accident. Although Bichette admitted negligence, she did dispute the nature and extent of Mrs. Depouw's injuries and whether her negligence was the proximate cause of those injuries. At trial, Mrs. Depouw sought as part of her damages her husband's lost wages incurred as a result of his taking time off work to care for her. Mr. Depouw testified that he had missed 98 hours, the equivalent of approximately 12 days of work, because of the accident. As a result of those lost hours, Mr. Depouw testified, he lost wages of $2,787.12. Moreover, Mr. Depouw stated that his income is shared with his wife. Mrs. Depouw's lost wages were not considered by the jury because she had already been compensated for her lost income by Bichette's insurer.
{ } When the matter was submitted to the jury, the jury interrogatory for Mrs. Depouw's claim contained a blank line captioned "Loss of Thomas Depouw's Income." Defense counsel repeatedly objected to the inclusion of this section in the jury interrogatory, but the trial court overruled the objections. The jury returned a verdict for Mrs. Depouw in the amount of $29,825.08 and $5,000 for Mr. Depouw's loss-of-consortium claim. The jury interrogatory revealed that $2,500.08 of Mrs. Depouw's damage award was for income lost as a result of Mr. Depouw's taking time off work to care for his spouse.
{ } Bichette is now appealing the judgment of the trial court in overruling her objection and allowing the jury to consider as a part of Mrs. Depouw's damages the lost income incurred by her husband. Bichette raises the following assignment of error.
{ } "The trial court erred in permitting the jury to consider a husband's lost wages as a component of damages in his wife's personal injury claim."
{ } Bichette argues that Mrs. Depouw cannot recover for her husband's lost wages, as they were not actually and personally incurred by her. We disagree.
{ } In Ohio, if one is injured due to another's wrong, he should be compensated for all of the damages that he has suffered. Restatement of the Law 2d, Torts (1979), Section 920A, Comment b; Robinson v. Bates, Hamilton App. No. C-040063, 2005-Ohio-1879. "The jury may allow as damages such reasonable amount as it may find that the plaintiff lost, as earnings, as the direct and natural result of the defendant's negligence, taking into consideration all the evidence concerning the plaintiff's age and physical condition before the injury, and the character of the plaintiff's employment." 30 Ohio Jurisprudence 3d (2004), Damages, Section 40, citing Mikula v. Balogh (1965), 9 Ohio App.2d 250.
{ } Few cases in Ohio have dealt with the situa
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ohio Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|