Durham v. Marberry
Arkansas Supreme Court
356 Ark. 481, 156 S.W.3d 242 (2004)
- Written by Tammy Boggs, JD
Facts
A transport vehicle owned by Harold Marberry (defendant) collided with a vehicle driven by Amanda Durham. Durham was instantly killed. The administrators of Durham’s estate (plaintiffs) sued Marberry under Arkansas’s wrongful-death and survival statutes. Arkansas’s survival statute allowed a decedent’s estate to recover for “loss of life” damages. Marberry moved for partial summary judgment on the administrators’ survival claim. The trial court granted the motion, finding that at least some period of life between injury and death was a condition for recovering loss-of-life damages. The administrators appealed, arguing that no period of life between injury and death was required for a decedent’s estate to recover loss-of-life damages. On appeal, Marberry argued that damages for loss of life as used in the statute were equivalent to damages for loss of enjoyment of life.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Imber, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 787,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.