Opinion ID: 1127452
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: ors 18.560: statutory argument

Text: The jury awarded plaintiff $1.5 million in noneconomic damages. The trial court applied ORS 18.560 and entered judgment for noneconomic damages of $500,000. Plaintiff mounts a variety of challenges to the application of ORS 18.560 in this case. This court considers subconstitutional claims before considering constitutional ones. See Zockert v. Fanning, 310 Or. 514, 520, 800 P.2d 773 (1990) (describing method of analysis). Plaintiff first argues that the trial court erred in holding that the claims of all individuals in an action to which ORS 18.560 applies are subject to a single-dollar limitation. Under plaintiff's statutory argument, the court should have entered judgment for noneconomic damages of $500,000 to each surviving parent, for a total award of $1 million in noneconomic damages. Defendants argue that the trial court correctly held that ORS 18.560 imposes a single limit on the noneconomic damage award in a wrongful death action relating to one decedent, regardless of the number of beneficiaries that there happen to be. In construing statutes, our task is to discern the intent of the legislature. In doing so, the first level of analysis is to examine the text and context of the statute. If the legislature's intent is clear from those inquiries, further inquiry is unnecessary. PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 317 Or. 606, 610-11, 859 P.2d 1143 (1993). ORS 18.560(1), quoted above at note 1, provides that, with certain exceptions not applicable here, in any civil action seeking damages arising out of    death    of any one person    the amount awarded for noneconomic damages shall not exceed $500,000. That wording limits the amount awarded for noneconomic damages in any civil action arising out of the death of any one person to $500,000. For the purpose of this case, we need to decide only how ORS 18.560(1) applies to a wrongful death claim. In that context, the application of ORS 18.560(1) is clear. This civil action seeks damages arising out of the death of one person. ORS 18.560(1). ORS 30.020(1), quoted above at note 2, provides, as relevant here, that the personal representative of a decedent may maintain an action against the wrongdoer. That is, the personal representative may bring only one action when there is only one decedent, no matter how many beneficiaries there may be. Here, there was but one decedent, and plaintiff brought one action. Under ORS 18.560(1), that action is subject to a single limit of $500,000. The trial court did not err in interpreting the statute when it applied a single $500,000 limit on noneconomic damages delineated in ORS 18.560(1) to this wrongful death action. [5]