Burke v. Burnham

The defendant’s exception presents the issue of whether a settlement made by the plaintiff’s decedent during her lifetime was as a matter of law a satisfaction of damages recoverable in this action, constituting a bar to its maintenance. Since the settlement exceeded the limit of $7,000 placed by statute upon recovery in actions for resulting death (R. L., c. 355, s. 13), the defendant asserts that the plaintiff can have no right of recovery.

There appears to be no dispute that the defendant’s liability is that of a joint tort feasor, the other tort feasor 'having been the person with whom the…