Reduction in Value: A Misnomer in the Wrongful Death Context

Recognizing the time value of money, Georgia law requires that an award of damages representing a present compensation for any future pecuniary loss be reduced to its “present value.” In some ways this is common sense. If, as the result of a wrongful death, wages for the next 20 years have been lost, it is reasonable that such economic damages be reduced to present cash value in order for a present day award to be fair to both sides. A verdict is being returned today, in today’s money, for losses that will be incurred over many years in the future. Georgia law allows juries to use a discounted rate of 5% for purposes of present value reduction but it does not require the use of that rate. In any event, what is important to realize is that the “full value” of the life of a deceased can never reduced to present cash value. Only the economic components of the value of the deceased’s life should be reduced to present cash value, not the intangible elements of the claim.
If someone is denied (based on their age at the time of their wrongful death) a life expectancy hypothetically of 30 or 40 years, one cannot reduce to present cash value the loss of enjoyment of life over such a period. On the other hand, if, in the same hypothetical case, the deceased may have worked an additional 20 to 30 years, the calculus is different because given the lost wage projections over time, the jury should recognize the time value of money and return as a part of its verdict damages representing present compensation for a future pecuniary lost, reduced to present value. What Georgia juries need to understand, however, and where counsel has the important duty to inform them, is that life is worth far more than the sum of a person’s pay check.
The intangible value of life cannot be reduced to present value. The full value of the life of the decedent includes an intangible element which is incapable of exact proof and which can only be measured by the enlightened conscience of fair and impartial jurors. This intangible element has no ascertainable value except to the deceased. The deceased’s complete loss of his/her intangible relationship over a period of years with loved ones include consideration of associated factors such as society, advice, counsel and companionship as part of the “full value” of the life lost to be assessed by a fair jury based upon such relationships and the facts and circumstances of the deceased’s family and from the jury’s own observation and experience of mankind in its enlightened conscience.
When we ask a Georgia jury to award “full value” for the life of a deceased, we never ask them to reduce to present value anything other than specific economic losses proven by the wrongful death. Thus, as we set forth in the title to this blog entry, it is a misnomer that wrongful death actions are capable of being reduced to present value. Only economic losses should be so reduced, nothing else.