Opinion ID: 2629666
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: AS 09.10.140 creates two classes of child personal injury plaintiffs.

Text: The court correctly sets out the parties' positions: The plaintiffs contend that AS 09.10.140 treats two classes of child personal injury plaintiffs differently, treating those younger than eight years of age at the time of injury less favorably than those older than eight years of age at the time of injury. The plaintiffs claim that AS 09.10.070(a) and 09.10.140(c) together provide that the younger children have until their tenth birthday to file a personal injury action, while the older children are treated more favorably, since they have until their twentieth birthday to file an action. The state rejects this view, contending that the tolling provisions of AS 09.10.140 only apply to children under the age of eight at the time of injury. Therefore, in the state's view, children over the age of eight at the time of injury have two years after their injury in which to file suit, like all other tort plaintiffs. I agree with the court's observation in today's opinion that [w]hen interpreting the language of a statute, we normally give unambiguous language its plain meaning.112 We may also rely on legislative history as a guide to interpretation, but the `plainer the language of a statute, the more convincing contrary legislative history must be' to interpret a statute in a contrary manner.113 [2] 112 See In re Johnstone, 2 P.3d 1226, 1231 (Alaska 2000). 113 Id. (quoting Ganz v. Alaska Airlines, Inc., 963 P.2d 1015, 1019 (Alaska 1998)). While today's opinion nowhere explicitly says so, it flatly rejects the state's view. It is correct to do so, because the state's interpretation is impossible to reconcile with the unambiguous language of AS 09.10.140. Alaska Statute 09.10.140 creates a tolling provision for the two-year statute of limitations in AS 09.10.070(a). Alaska Statute 09.10.140 contains a general rule and an exception. The general rule, in AS 09.10.140(a), tolls the statute of limitations for all children until they reach the age of majority, which is eighteen years of age: Except as provided under (c) of this section, if a person entitled to bring an action mentioned in this chapter is at the time the cause of action accrues ... under the age of majority ... the time of [the plaintiff's minority] ... is not a part of the time limit for the commencement of the action. This general rule existed in former AS 09.10.140. [3] Chapter 26, SLA 1997 modified this tolling procedure with an exception to the general rule, now codified in AS 09.10.140(c). [4] As AS 09.10.140(a) states, the tolling for the plaintiff's minority applies except as provided under [AS 09.10.140](c). Alaska Statute 09.10.140(c) provides: In an action for personal injury of a person who was under the age of eight years at the time of the injury, the time period before the person's eighth birthday is not a part of the time limit imposed under AS 09.10.070(a) for commencing the civil action. The unambiguous language of subsection (c) indicates that it applies to personal injury plaintiffs who were under the age of eight years at the time of the injury, and creates a different tolling rule for these plaintiffs. For those plaintiffs under the age of eight at the time of injury, the statute of limitations is only tolled until those plaintiffs reach the age of eight. Therefore, AS 09.10.140 distinguishes between children and creates two different classes of minor personal injury plaintiffs: (i) those who were under the age of eight at the time of injury; and (ii) those who were eight years old or older at the time of injury. Children under the age of eight at the time of injury have until their tenth birthday to file suit, while children over the age of eight at the time of injury have until their twentieth birthday, subject to the statute of repose. [5]