## Facts

- A railroad accident involving Florida East Coast Railway Company resulted in the death of W. C. McRoberts’s wife.
- McRoberts sued under Florida’s death-by-wrongful-act statute, alleging the railroad’s negligent operation caused the death.
- McRoberts sought compensatory damages and exemplary (punitive) damages.
- The jury returned a verdict for McRoberts in the amount of $22,500, and judgment was entered on that verdict.
- On appeal, the railroad conceded (for purposes of appeal) that the evidence could support exemplary damages if legally permitted, but argued punitive damages were not recoverable in a statutory wrongful-death action.

## Issues

1. Whether Florida’s death-by-wrongful-act statute authorizes recovery of exemplary (punitive) damages in addition to compensatory damages.
2. Whether a statutory wrongful-death action should be treated as compensatory and remedial only, given its origin in Lord Campbell’s Act and similar enactments.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Florida held that punitive damages are not recoverable under Florida’s death-by-wrongful-act statute.
- The court reversed the judgment to the extent it allowed exemplary damages.
- The court remanded for a new trial limited to the issue of damages, confined to compensatory damages.

## Legal Principles

- A wrongful-death claim under the Florida statute is a statutory cause of action unknown to the common law; the remedy and measure of damages are limited to what the statute provides.
- The statute’s damages scheme is compensatory, aimed at reimbursing designated beneficiaries for pecuniary loss resulting from the death, not punishing the tortfeasor.
- Courts will not read punitive-damages recovery into a wrongful-death statute that is silent on punitive damages; any authorization for punitive damages is a legislative decision.
- The statutory wrongful-death action is distinct from the decedent’s personal-injury claim; potential punitive-damages exposure in a living plaintiff’s case does not automatically carry over to beneficiaries in the death action.

## Conclusion

Florida’s wrongful-death statute, as construed by the Supreme Court of Florida, limits recovery to compensatory damages for beneficiaries’ losses and does not permit punitive damages without explicit legislative authorization; the case was remanded for a damages-only retrial on that basis.


Fla. E. Coast Ry. Co. v. McRoberts, 111 Fla. 278, 149 So. 631 (Fla. 1933)