August 3, 1987
By Fred Maher
of the Journal-Reporter

A federal jury recently awarded the family of a Delaware County homemaker $5.7 million, including $1.8 million in compensatory damages, for her wrongful death in a car accident and in the process, according to the family’s lawyer, helped place a realistic monetary value on the loss of a homemaker.

“This is one of the largest decisions of its type in the state and country,” said A. Roy DeCaro. “It’s interesting because the jury did not discount the fact that this homemaker had not worked for wages through her 29 years of marriage.

“It’s my feeling that a number of cases like this are settled for too low a sum because there hasn’t been much case history supporting this type of decision,” he added.

Florence J. Gormley was killed by a van driven by Joel Julien while he was delivering packages for his employer, Choice Courier Systems, Inc. of New York. The van, which had bald and fraying tires, skidded across a dividing line and struck Gormley’s car head-on. She died an hour later at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

Active in numerous organizations outside the home, Gormley was president of the Mothers Guild at Sacred Heart Academy for Girls, coordinator of the girls’ tennis team at Overbrook Country Club and was active in raising funds for St. Joseph’s Prep school and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.

DeCaro said that the federal jury, in its July 2 decision, considered Gormley’s outside activities and the services she rendered to the family in arriving at its $5.7 million award.

The award included $3.9 million in punitive damages because, the jury said, the courier company should have had an inspection policy for the more than 400 vehicles it used for deliveries.

The most important aspect of the decision, according to DeCaro, is the rare award of a large compensatory damage figure to Gormley’s family.

“Juries generally don’t give awards of this type because they discount the value of the loss of a homemaker.” DeCaro said. “This decision places a truer value on a homemaker’s services and also sends a message to other juries that the value of a homemaker can’t be discounted in 1987.”

Nevertheless, James Haggerty, chairman of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute’s Auto and Casualty Insurance Section, believes the jury award will not have significant precedential value because of Gormley’s unique interest in outside activities.

“I don’t think the case will have much of an impact on future cases because Gormley was such a remarkable woman,” said Haggerty.

James D. Wilder, who represented Choice Courier, admitted that the case did involve an extraordinary individual but said that the damage award was too high. Wilder said the decision has been appealed and added that the jury did not establish any form of apportionment of negligence between the company and Julien.