Title: Koching v. International Armament Corp.

State: kentucky

Issuer: Kentucky Supreme Court

Document:

772 S.W.2d 634 (1989) Sandra Jean KOCHING, as Administratrix of the Estate of Werner Koching, deceased, Movant, v. INTERNATIONAL ARMAMENT CORPORATION, Respondent. No. 88-SC-978-CL. Supreme Court of Kentucky. June 29, 1989. Ron Parry, Covington, Marcus S. Carey, Fort Mitchell, for movant. Timothy G. Atwood, Trumbull, Conn., Thomas C. Smith, Covington, for respondent. We have accepted a request from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Covington for a certification of the law of Kentucky with respect to the following question: Litigation pending in the United States District Court is seeking damages for wrongful death which is alleged to have resulted from a product defective in design. The injury occurred on October 3, 1984. There is a jury issue as to whether or not the decedent was contributorially negligent in his use of the product. At the time of the injury K.R.S. 411.320(3) was in effect. It provided: In Reda Pump Co., Etc. v. Finck, Ky., 713 S.W.2d 818 (1986), we held that despite the adoption of the comparative negligence rule by this court, K.R.S. 411.320(3) prohibited recovery in a products-liability action by a plaintiff who was contributorially negligent. Subsequent to the injury and the filing of this litigation, the General Assembly of *635 Kentucky, at its 1988 session, enacted House Bill 551 which has been codified as K.R.S. 411.182. It provides in part as follows: The question presented is whether House Bill 551 (K.R.S. 411.182) is applicable to the facts of this case. We hold that it is not. In Dunlap v. University of Kentucky Student Health Services Clinic, Ky., 716 S.W.2d 219 (1986), this court held that a statute which permitted the University of Kentucky to establish a fund to assure the satisfaction of malpractice claims was an implied waiver of the sovereign immunity of the Commonwealth. At its next session, the General Assembly of Kentucky enacted K.R.S. 44.072 and K.R.S. 44.073(12). They provide: K.R.S. 44.072 K.R.S. 44.073(12) Thereafter, in Kestler v. Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky, Ky., 758 S.W.2d 38 (1988), this court held that K.R.S. 44.072 could not be applied retroactively to an accident which occurred prior to the enactment of the statute. In The University of Louisville v. O'Bannon, Judge, Ky., 770 S.W.2d 215 (1989), we held that neither K.R.S. 44.072 or K.R.S. 44.073(12) could be applied in a medical malpractice *636 case in which the injury occurred prior to the enactment of those statutes. In Sweasy v. Kings Daughters Memorial Hospital, Ky., 771 S.W.2d 812 (1989), we had before us an action concerning the applicability of a provision of House Bill 551 enacted by the 1988 General Assembly, the same house bill about which we are asked to certify the law in this case. A section of House Bill 551 provides that peer review and similar hospital records are not subject to discovery and cannot be introduced as evidence in civil cases. This court held that House Bill 551 was not applicable to a case involving an injury which occurred prior to the enactment of the statute because the statute could not be construed to operate retroactively. In each of the above cases, this court determined that the application of the statute in a case based upon an event which occurred before the enactment of the statute constituted a retroactive application of the statute and was not permissible. Under the facts of the case presented for certification, the court should apply the principle of contributory negligence pursuant to K.R.S. 411.320 and the decision of this court in Reda Pump Co., Etc. v. Finck, supra. The law is so certified. All justices sitting. All concur except VANCE, J., who dissents for the reasons expressed in his dissent in Sweasy v. Kings Daughters Memorial Hospital, Ky., 771 S.W.2d 812 (1989) and The University of Louisville v. O'Bannon, Judge, Ky., 770 S.W.2d 215 (1989).