ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District on Nov. 6 asked the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis to reconsider a judgement award to more equitably compensate the mother of a son killed in an auto accident.
Nicklaus Macke, 25, died in the accident on April 25, 2017.
The father, Loren Macke, pursued a wrongful civil death claim against defendant Austin Patton alleging that Patton’s negligence caused the death of Nicklaus Macke.
A settlement was reached and Patton’s auto insurance company agreed to pay a $500,000 policy limit on behalf of Patton.
The mother of Nicklaus Macke, Pamela Eden, who had divorced her husband, remarried and was living in Alabama, at first was unaware of the settlement, made in October 2017. She appeared at the court with counsel the following month.
Her attorney asked for a continuance of the case as he had just been retained and did not have time to adequately prepare for the hearing. The continuance was denied.
The attorney for Loren Macke took an aggressive approach, the court document stated, questioning Eden's fitness as a mother alleging a past history over two decades of alleged marital infidelity, drug use and other dysfunctional behavior.
Nicklaus Macke had been one-and-a-half years old at the time his parents divorced, and he been raised by his father.
Later, his mother re-established a closer relationship with him, attending his high school graduation and keeping in contact through social media. According to the appeals court, Eden apologized to her son for being absent for much of his life and the apology was accepted.
The trial court approved the $500,000 settlement and awarded the father $490,000 (98 percent) and the mother $10,000 (2 percent).
The appeals court did not find the trial court errored by denying the continuance requested by Eden’s attorney as it had been made orally and not in writing.
“We reverse only in extreme cases where it appears the Trial Court’s ruling was against the logic of the circumstances as to shock the sense of justice,” the court opinion stated.
However, the court took a different view of the apportioning of the damages, stating the purpose was not to punish someone for past alleged misdeeds.
The court concluded Eden was re-establishing a relationship with her son at the time of his death and her loss would account for more than mere grief and bereavement and should allow for more than 2 percent of the settlement amount.
“We find the mother’s share of the proceeds grossly inadequate,” the opinion read.
The Missouri Eastern District Appeals Court reversed the trial court’s apportionment between father and mother and asked the court to make an award more consistent with its opinion.