Estate of Rae v. Murphy

STEELE, Chief Justice:

Alberta Rae died in a car collision with Wade Murphy, defendant-appellee. Rae’s estate brought a survival action, seeking compensatory and punitive damages, and her daughters brought a wrongful death suit in Superior Court. A Superior Court judge granted partial summary judgment on the punitive damages claim ruling that the evidence did not demonstrate wilful or wanton conduct. After trial, a jury found that Rae did not have any conscious interval of suffering and, thus, did not award Rae’s estate any damages for the survival action. The jury did award each daughter…