Opinion ID: 2404254
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: RSA 265:89-a Is Properly Applied Prospectively.

Text: If RSA 265:89-a is not penal, the defendant argues, in the alternative, that our State Constitution also prohibits the retrospective application of law to civil causes. See N.H. CONST. pt. I, art. 23. It is unnecessary for us to address this constitutional argument because rules of statutory construction require RSA 265:89-a to apply prospectively only. [7] While there is a presumption that remedial statutes are to be applied retrospectively, Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Home Ins. Indem. Co., 117 N.H. 269, 270, 371 A.2d 1171, 1173 (1979), courts refuse to apply a statute retrospectively if it imposes a liability not existing at the time of its passage, or affects an existing liability to the detriment of the defendant. 82 C.J.S. Statutes § 418, at 995 (1953). Most jurisdictions hold that statutory increases in damage limitations are changes in substantive rights and not mere remedial changes; and, absent legislative intent to the contrary, courts apply these changes only prospectively. Annot., 98 A.L.R.2d 1105, 1107 (1964). This court has held that a statutory increase in the wrongful death limitation from $60,000 to $120,000 would apply only prospectively, because to apply the new limit, after the date of the accident, enlarged the defendant's liability retrospectively. Mihoy v. Proulx, 113 N.H. 698, 701, 313 A.2d 723, 725 (1973). In an analogous case, the Connecticut Supreme Court held that although the Dram Shop Act is primarily remedial in nature, the change in the limit of damages was substantive in nature. Lavieri v. Ulysses, 149 Conn. 396, 401-02, 180 A.2d 632, 636 (1962). Because the change in liability was substantive in nature, the court refused to apply the new limit retrospectively. Id. at 402, 180 A.2d at 636. [8, 9] To apply RSA 265:89-a retrospectively in this case would increase the defendant's liability over what it was at the time of the accident. Accordingly, we hold that because RSA 265:89-a imposes new liabilities upon defendants of a substantive nature it should be applied only to causes of action which arose after the effective date of the new law. There is no evidence of legislative intent to have this statute apply retrospectively; and, in holding as we do, we do not address the issue of whether the legislature could have lawfully required RSA 265:89-a to be applied retrospectively. Reversed and remanded.