$5.5 Million Jury Award in Wrongful Death Claim

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2016/06/01/410327.htm

This is not my case, and it’s not even a North Carolina wrongful death case.  But it just happened and it’s big, so it caught my attention.

What’s a life worth?  Should it matter whose life it was?  What if it was a hedge fund manager who would earn billions over his lifetime?  What if it was a homeless person with a terminal illness who wasn’t going to live more than 6 months?

I don’t have the answers, really.  In North Carolina wrongful death cases, lost income for support of the family is considered in valuing a wrongful death claim, for better or for worse.  But this, to me, brings up the moral question raised above, but stated differently here: Should your income matter for wrongful death claims, or should we all be “valued” equally?

Once again, I don’t really have an answer, but it’s an interesting thing to ponder on a Monday.  Sorry to start your week off so morbidly.