## Facts

- A 76-year-old woman was murdered in March 1984 in her apartment in a New York City public housing project owned/leased by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).
- She was found bound and gagged, with multiple injuries; the autopsy listed asphyxia by gagging with additional contusions and fractures.
- The assailant was later convicted of this murder and of raping and robbing two other women in the building.
- The decedent had raised her two grandchildren (plaintiffs), who were 21 and 19 at the time; by 1984 both were financially independent and lived separately.
- Despite their independence, the decedent regularly provided meals and household assistance, helped them manage their mentally ill mother, and was expected to provide future childcare and support.
- Plaintiffs sued NYCHA for wrongful death and the decedent’s conscious pain and suffering; a jury awarded substantial damages, which the trial court reduced, and the Appellate Division affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether financially independent adult grandchildren may recover wrongful-death damages by proving “pecuniary injuries” under EPTL 5-4.3(a) through the economic value of the decedent’s services and support.
2. Whether circumstantial evidence of the attack and injuries was sufficient to support damages for the decedent’s conscious pain and suffering before death.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of New York affirmed.
- The court held that plaintiffs, as distributees, could recover wrongful-death damages because the evidence supported a finding of compensable pecuniary loss from the decedent’s ongoing and expected services and assistance.
- The court held that circumstantial evidence supported the award for conscious pain and suffering, even without direct proof of consciousness.
- NYCHA’s challenges to the legal availability of wrongful-death damages and to the evidentiary basis for conscious pain and suffering were rejected.

## Legal Principles

- Wrongful-death recovery under EPTL 5-4.3(a) requires proof of “pecuniary injuries,” which may include the monetary value of a decedent’s services, care, and assistance, not solely wage replacement or current financial dependency.
- Adult status and financial independence do not bar distributees (including grandchildren) from proving pecuniary loss when evidence shows ongoing or reasonably expected future services with economic value.
- Conscious pain and suffering may be proven through circumstantial evidence; direct testimony that the decedent was conscious is not required.
- The manner of restraint, the nature and number of injuries, and other physical circumstances can permit a reasonable inference that the decedent experienced conscious pain and suffering before death.

## Conclusion

The court upheld damages for wrongful death and conscious pain and suffering, ruling that adult grandchildren may establish pecuniary loss through the economic value of a decedent’s continuing and expected services, and that circumstantial evidence may sufficiently show pre-death conscious pain and suffering.


Gonzalez v. N.Y.C. Hous. Auth., 77 N.Y.2d 663, 572 N.E.2d 598 (N.Y. 1991)