McMurry v. Magnusson

849 S.W.2d 619 (1993)

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McMurry v. Magnusson

Missouri Court of Appeals
849 S.W.2d 619 (1993)

  • Written by Tammy Boggs, JD

Facts

Freda McMurry (plaintiff) was a passenger in a car driven by Charles Magnusson (defendant) when Magnusson got in an accident with a car driven by Cecil Lindsay (defendant). McMurry suffered back injuries and was hospitalized. Afterward, McMurry could not walk on her own or care for herself. McMurry moved from St. Louis, Missouri, to St. James, Missouri, nearly 100 miles away. For over four months, McMurry’s sister cared for McMurry, providing for all of McMurry’s personal and medical needs. At some point, McMurry agreed to pay her sister for the services rendered. McMurry thought that her sister deserved to be paid at least as much as the home health nurse who visited McMurry, or $75 a day. McMurry sued Magnusson and Lindsay, seeking damages, and a jury trial was held. At the time of trial, McMurry had not actually paid her sister any money. The court instructed the jury that it could not consider the home care provided by McMurry’s sister as evidence of damages. The court reasoned that the services rendered were gratuitous and not an element of damages. The jury returned a verdict in favor of McMurry and awarded her damages of $25,000. McMurry appealed, arguing that the jury should have been allowed to decide the gratuitousness issue for purposes of calculating damages.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Crandall, J.)

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