## Facts

- Laurie Ann Greene died after complications from a Caesarean section, allegedly due to medical malpractice that caused fatal bleeding.
- The estate’s representative brought a wrongful death action under Michigan’s Wrongful Death Act (WDA), MCL 600.2922.
- The plaintiff sought damages for the economic value of household services Greene had provided to her minor children.
- The plaintiff retained an economist who calculated the replacement cost of the lost household services at approximately $1.45 million.
- Defendants moved to strike the claim for economic damages for loss of household services and to exclude the economist’s testimony, arguing (a) the WDA does not list “loss of services” as a recoverable damage item and (b) such losses are part of noneconomic “loss of society and companionship” subject to the medical-malpractice noneconomic cap in MCL 600.1483.
- The trial court granted the motions, striking the economic-loss claim and precluding the expert testimony.
- The plaintiff obtained interlocutory review.

## Issues

1. Whether MCL 600.2922(6) permits recovery of economic damages for loss of a decedent’s household services even though “loss of services” is not expressly enumerated.
2. Whether loss of household services must be treated as noneconomic “loss of society and companionship” and therefore capped under MCL 600.1483 in a medical-malpractice wrongful death case.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s order and remanded.
- The court held the WDA permits economic damages for loss of household services despite the absence of an express reference to that category in MCL 600.2922(6).
- The court held loss of household services is an economic loss distinct from noneconomic “loss of society and companionship.”
- Because the loss is economic, it is not subject to the medical-malpractice noneconomic damages cap in MCL 600.1483.
- The court reinstated the plaintiff’s claim for economic damages for loss of household services and allowed related expert proof.

## Legal Principles

- Under MCL 600.2922(6), the damages list introduced by “including” is illustrative rather than exhaustive; recoverable wrongful death damages are not limited to the items expressly listed.
- Long-recognized pecuniary injuries in wrongful death actions include the economic value of services the decedent would have provided to survivors; statutory amendments adding noneconomic categories expand, rather than eliminate, traditional economic recovery.
- Household services are market-replaceable and measurable by replacement cost, making them economic damages rather than components of noneconomic relational losses.
- The noneconomic damages cap in MCL 600.1483 applies to noneconomic damages, not to properly proven economic damages such as replacement-cost household services.

## Conclusion

The court held that the WDA allows recovery of economic damages for the loss of a decedent’s household services, and that such damages are economic (and therefore uncapped by the medical-malpractice noneconomic damages limit), requiring reversal of the order striking the claim and excluding the economist’s testimony.


Thorn v. Mercy Mem'l Hosp. Corp., 281 Mich. App. 644, 761 N.W.2d 414 (Mich. Ct. App. 2008)