WPI 31.01.02 Measure of Damages—Survival Action—No Statutory Beneficiaries
6 WAPRAC WPI 31.01.02Washington Practice Series TMWashington Pattern Jury Instructions--Civil
6 Wash. Prac., Wash. Pattern Jury Instr. Civ. WPI 31.01.02 (7th ed.)
Washington Practice Series TM
Washington Pattern Jury Instructions--Civil
April 2022 Update
Part IV. Damages
Chapter 31. Damages—Wrongful Death and Survival Actions
WPI 31.01.02 Measure of Damages—Survival Action—No Statutory Beneficiaries
It is the duty of the court to instruct you as to the measure of damages. [By instructing you on damages, the court does not mean to suggest for which party your verdict should be rendered.
If your verdict is for the plaintiff, then] you must determine the amount of money that will reasonably and fairly compensate(name of decedent)'s estate for such damages as you find were proximately caused by the negligence of the defendant.
[If you find for the plaintiff] [your verdict must include the following undisputed items:
(here insert undisputed items and amounts)
In addition] you should consider the following items:
(1) The health care and funeral expenses that were reasonably and necessarily incurred.
(2) The net accumulations lost to [his] [her] estate. In determining the net accumulations, you should take into account(name of decedent)'s age, health, life expectancy, occupation, and habits of industry, responsibility, and thrift. You should also take into account(name of decedent)'s earning capacity, including [his] [her] actual earnings prior to death and the earnings that reasonably would have been expected to be earned by [him] [her] in the future, including any pension benefits. Further, you should take into account the amount you find that(name of decedent)reasonably would have consumed as personal expenses and deduct this from [his] [her] expected future earnings to determine the net accumulations.
The burden of proving damages rests upon the plaintiff. It is for you to determine, based upon the evidence, whether any particular element has been proved by a preponderance of the evidence.
Your award must be based upon evidence and not upon speculation, guess, or conjecture.
NOTE ON USE
Use this instruction for survival actions (brought under RCW 4.20.046 or RCW 4.20.060) for which there are no statutory beneficiaries. For survival actions that do involve statutory beneficiaries, use WPI 31.01.01 (Measure of Damages—Survival Action—Statutory Beneficiaries) instead of this instruction.
Because this instruction is limited to cases not involving statutory beneficiaries, it will not be accompanied by a wrongful death instruction.
Use bracketed material as applicable. If some of the bracketed phrases are deleted, practitioners may need to capitalize the first word that follows the deleted phrase.
COMMENT
RCW 4.20.046 and RCW 4.20.060.
For a discussion of this instruction and its relationship with the other pattern instruction on survival action damages, see Comment to WPI 31.01.01 (Measure of Damages—Survival Action—Statutory Beneficiaries).
[Current as of April 2021.]
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