In a few days I will be asking a Fulton County, Georgia jury to return a verdict for the plaintiff for the full value of the life of a young man who was 31 years old when he died, a husband and a father of two young sons. What the value of life is is a subject I contemplate often, given the fact that I find myself trying so many wrongful death cases in Georgia these days as a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer.
Interestingly, in Georgia, the jury is to view the value of life from the decedent’s eyes, not from their own and not from loved one’s. We typically show that by having friends and family come into court and testify about what the decedent enjoyed doing, how he spent time with his friends and family, his Faith, his priorities in life, his values, his moral character, his love. In Georgia, we have the Wrongful Death Act, “§ 51-4-2. Homicide of spouse or parent; survival of action,” in which the negligent death of a person is called an “homicide.” The surviving spouse is allowed to bring the cause of action and if there is no surviving spouse, the decedent’s children bring it and if there are no children, the decedent’s parents bring it and if there are no parents an appointed administrator brings it. Under Georgia law, O.C.G.A. § 51-4-1, the “full value of the life” is defined as follows: “Full value of the life of the decedent, as shown by the evidence” means the full value of the life of the decedent without deducting for any of the necessary or personal expenses of the decedent had he lived.
And therein lies the conundrum…because really, isn’t a life priceless? If you Google “value of life” there are plenty of ideas on what that means, but very little on what’s it’s worth. There is even a Wikipedia entry on “value of life.” This is what Georgia juries must do in every courthouse in the State of Georgia on a weekly or at least monthly basis…determine the value of someone’s life in real money, not terms of art. And we plaintiffs’ attorneys trust that juries make the right decisions. We know juries take their solemn oath seriously and work hard to do justice and impartially find the right outcome. We cannot, as citizens, ask for more.