Plaintiff sued to recover damages for the death of her husband, occasioned by a collision between decedent's car and defendant's bus, which she alleged was caused by the negligent operation of the bus. A verdict of $17,500 *Page 255 in plaintiff's favor was, upon an order of the court below, remitted to $14,000, and judgment was entered accordingly. Defendant's appeal from this judgment presents but a single question: Was the verdict, as reduced, excessive?
We have repeatedly said, in a long line of cases, of which King v. Equitable Gas Co.,
Under these circumstances the verdict as reduced cannot be said to be excessive. Defendant argues that in reaching its conclusion the jury must have disregarded the trial judge's instructions to compute the present worth of the income of which plaintiff was deprived by her husband's death and to award plaintiff only the amount of such present worth. Just what calculation the jury engaged in does not of course appear, nor does it appear what sum the jury regarded as equivalent to the probable annual income which plaintiff lost. It is clear that no regular annuity can be fixed with any certainty on the basis of loss of income from the date of the accident, in view of the numerous variable factors involved, such as the possibility of unemployment, disability, natural decline, economic changes, etc.: see McCaffrey v. Schwartz,
Judgment affirmed. *Page 257