Farrington v. Stoddard

MAGRUDER, Circuit Judge.

This case turns on the Maine death and survival statutes. In Maine, as in other states, the interrelation of these two statutes has been the subject of much perplexing litigation. See Note, The Inadequacies of Existing “Wrongful Death” and “Survival” Legislation, 44 Harv.L.Rev. 980.

On July 11, 1938, Edward Farrington, the plaintiff’s testator, while carefully driving a horse-drawn mowing machine on a Maine highway, collided with a truck negligently operated by defendant’s servant. Farrington’s skull was fractured, he was rendered unconscious, and from the time of the…