Legal Memorandum: Burn Injury and Wrongful Death Cases

Issue: What are recent jury verdicts or settlements involving electrocution/burn injuries resulting in death in Suffolk or Nassau County, New York, as well as wrongful death verdicts in those counties, all involving an adult male with three or more minor children?

A.      Summary of On-line Searches

In order to obtain the most comprehensive picture of the potential damages, the research was approached in several ways.  First, computerized legal research was conducted for cases involving death from burns or electrocution in Suffolk County, New York.  An online search through jury verdict and settlement files for such cases retrieved only three relevant cases, so we expanded our search to include Nassau County.  That search retrieved only one additional case.  The verdicts and settlements in all of these cases, which are discussed in more detail below, ranged from $663,328 to $720,000; two of the cases resulted in defense verdicts.

In addition, research was done to locate all wrongful death cases in Suffolk and Nassau Counties, New York in which the decedent left behind a spouse and children.  That search retrieved eleven cases, with verdicts and settlements ranging from $500,000 to $4,722,500 and four defense verdicts.  Those cases, too, are discussed below. 

B.        Handbook Information

1.         Wrongful death cases

Information in the Personal Injury Valuation Handbook (2001) based on national studies of recent similar cases indicates that the basic injury value for the wrongful death of a married man with three or more minor children was $1,400,000.  This amount is based on the verdict median¹ in all such cases.  The verdict probability range² was from $450,000 to $3,300,000, the actual verdict range³ was from $10,000 to $55,472,100, and the verdict mean⁴ was $3,463,311.  Sixty-seven percent of […]