Johnson v. Manhattan & Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority

OPINION OF THE COURT

Bellacosa, J.

In this action for wrongful death and conscious pain and suffering, we focus primarily on defendant’s argument that the trial court erred in two respects on damages: (1) excluding evidence of the decedent’s after-tax income for calculating damages based on the lost wages component; and (2) refusing to instruct the jury that, despite the over-all nontaxability of the award, the part of the damages calculation on decedent’s lost wages component should nevertheless be based on decedent’s net rather than gross income. Defendant also argues that, in any event, it…