U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 2001

Estate of Walker v. Estate of McGrath

Estate of Walker v. Estate of McGrath
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Decided January 19, 2001 · Wollman, Fagg, Hansen
1 F. App'x 600

Estate of Walker v. Estate of McGrath

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Melinda Walker and Brian McGrath were killed when their automobiles collided. Walker’s estate brought this diversity action against McGrath’s estate for wrongful death, and a jury trial was conducted on the issue of damages only. The jury awarded Walker’s estate $102,034.35 for loss of accumulation to the estate, burial and ambulance expenses, past loss of financial support, and future loss of financial support. Although Walker had been married for six weeks at the time of the accident, the jury awarded no damages for past loss of spousal consortium or future loss of spousal consortium. Applying Iowa law, the district court denied a post-judgment motion for a new trial, deciding the verdict was not outside the wide boundaries of substantial justice. Walker challenges this decision on appeal. Having carefully reviewed the record, we conclude the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the new trial, and thus affirm this state-law diversity case without an extended opinion. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.