In Gonzalez v. N.Y.C. Hous. Auth., 77 N.Y.2d 663, 572 N.E.2d 598, 569 N.Y.S.2d 915 (1991), an elderly grandmother is murdered and her family files a wrongful death lawsuit to recover for loss of her support and companionship.

The defense claims that the plaintiff cannot recover for loss of support since the plaintiffs are emancipated adults.

The Court of Appeals rejects this argument.

The court held that, "recovery is not barred solely because plaintiffs were self-supporting adults at the time of their grandmother's death. The argument that an adult distributee cannot state a claim for pecuniary injuries based on the loss of a parent's guidance was long ago rejected by this court." Id. at 668.