United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Gulf, C. & S.F. Ry. Co. v. Moser, 275 U.S. 133 (1927)

Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Company v. Moser

No. 53

Submitted October 19, 1927

Decided November 21, 1927

275 U.S. 133

Syllabus

1. In computing the damages recoverable under the Federal Employers' Liability Act by a dependant who has been deprived of future benefit through the death of a railroad employee, the principle of limiting the recovery to compensation requires that adequate allowance be made, according to circumstances, for the earning power of money -- in short, that, when future payments or other pecuniary benefits are to be anticipated, the verdict should be made up on the basis of their present value only. P. 275 U. S. 136.

2. This interpretation, heretofore approved by this Court, has become an integral part of the statute, and should be followed in the state courts. P. 275 U. S. 136.

3. Refusal of a request for an instruction to the jury on the reduction of such future benefits to present value by deduction of interest at the highest rate that the testimony showed could be had on money safely invested and secured held erroneous. P. 275 U. S. 135.

277 S.W. 722 reversed.

Certiorari, 271 U.S. 655, to a judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals of Texas sustaining a recovery of damages in an action under the Federal Employers' Liability Act. The Supreme Court of Texas refused a writ of error for want of jurisdiction, 277 S.W. 722.