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Norfolk & Western Railway Co. v. Liepelt | 444 U.S. 490 (1980)
As the old saying goes, nothing is certain in life but death and taxes. In Norfolk and Western Railway versus Liepelt, we explore the intersection of those two certainties in a wrongful-death case.
Delroy Liepelt worked for Norfolk and Western Railway. Delroy was killed at work in a train crash. Kandythe Liepelt, the administratrix of his estate, sued the railroad in Illinois state court under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, or FELA. FELA is a federal statute pursuant to which railroad employees may sue their employers for on-the-job injuries. Liepelt sought to recover damages that Delroy’s survivors sustained as a result of his death. Under FELA, survivors are entitled to recover pecuniary benefits that they reasonably would’ve received had the decedent lived.
Liepelt’s expert economist testified that the value of the survivors’ pecuniary losses totaled three hundred two thousand dollars. This figure didn’t include the pecuniary value of care and training that Liepelt would’ve provided to his children because the expert couldn’t place a dollar value on that loss.
Liepelt’s expert utilized Delroy’s gross income, rather than his after-tax income, to calculate the survivors’ damages. The trial court refused to admit evidence regarding the taxes that Delroy would’ve paid on that income. It also refused the railroad’s request to instruct the jury that the damage award wasn’t taxable.
The jury found for Liepelt and awarded seven hundred seventy-five thousand dollars. The Illinois appellate court affirmed. The Illinois Supreme Court denied leave to appeal. The United States Supreme Court granted cert.
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