Kaczkowski v. Bolubasz
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
421 A.2d 1027 (1980)
Eric Kaczkowski was killed as a passenger in a car accident caused by the driver, John Bolubasz (defendant). Theodore Kaczkowski, administrator of Eric's estate, won a wrongful-death verdict on liability, and the case was sent back for a damages-only retrial. The trial court told the jury to calculate Eric's lost future earnings using his personal characteristics, subtract maintenance costs to get net earnings, and then discount that amount to present value using a 6% simple interest rate - without letting the jury hear evidence about future inflation or productivity growth. The jury awarded only $30,000. Kaczkowski appealed, arguing the trial court wrongly excluded evidence of how inflation and rising productivity would have increased Eric's future earnings.
Whether a jury calculating a decedent's lost future earnings may consider evidence of lost future productivity, with future inflation presumed to offset future interest rates.