Opinion ID: 1350186
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the cap and annuity provisions of H.B. 2661 violate the right to trial by jury under Section 5 of the Bill of Rights of the Kansas Constitution.

Text: Section 5 of the Bill of Rights of the Kansas Constitution provides that the right of trial by jury shall be inviolate. It guarantees the right of every citizen to trial by jury. `The right of trial by jury is a substantial and valuable right. The law favors trial by jury and the right should be carefully guarded against infringement.' Waggener v. Seever Systems, Inc., 233 Kan. 517, 520, 664 P.2d 813 (1983) (quoting Bourne v. Atchison, T & S.F. Rly. Co., 209 Kan. 511, 497 P.2d 110 [1972]). Trial by jury is guaranteed only in those cases where the right existed at common law. Kimball et al. v. Connor et al., 3 Kan. ,  (1866). Common law allows for the recovery of damages for negligent injury ( Tefft v. Wilcox, 6 Kan.  [1870]), and therefore the right to jury trial applies here. Kansas cases hold that the right to a jury trial includes the right to have a jury determine damages. Plaintiffs contend that the cap provisions of H.B. 2661 impair the right to a jury trial by truncating the jury's ability to fix damages. The jury's traditional role is to decide issues of fact. Hasty v. Pierpont, 146 Kan. 517, 520-21, 72 P.2d 69 (quoting Walker v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 165 U.S. 593, 596, 41 L.Ed. 837, 17 S.Ct. 421 [1897]). The determination of damages is an issue of fact. Therefore, it is the jury's responsibility to determine damages. Yet H.B. 2661 sets a limit on the recovery of damages, thereby restricting before trial the amount of damages available to those most severely injured. It also restricts access to whatever recovery is received, through the requirement of annuities. In other words, for a plaintiff who sustains massive injuries and to whom a jury awards $4,000,000, H.B. 2661 makes the determination that $1,000,000 is all the plaintiff needs. For a plaintiff who suffers any extreme pain and disfigurement, a limit of $250,000 is imposed. When the trial judge enters judgment for less than the jury verdict (as H.B. 2661 directs him to do) and orders an annuity contract, he clearly invades the province of the jury. This is an infringement on the jury's determination of the facts, and, thus, is an infringement on the right to a jury trial. Further support for the conclusion that Section 5 includes the right to have a jury determine damages comes from the ancient distinction between legal and equitable actions. At common law and under the Kansas Constitution, a party in a suit in equity (such as an action for specific performance, foreclosure, or to quiet title) is not entitled to a trial by jury. Waggener v. Seever Systems, Inc., 233 Kan. 517. On the other hand, suits seeking monetary recovery or money damages have always been considered actions at law which must be considered by a jury unless waived. Windholz v. Willis, 1 Kan. App.2d 683, 686, 573 P.2d 1100 (1977). See City of Osawatomie v. Slayman, 182 Kan. 770, 323 P.2d 910 (1958). The right to a jury trial, then, turns on the type of remedy sought. It would be illogical for this court to find that a jury, empaneled because monetary damages are sought, could not then fully determine the amount of damages suffered. However, the legislature can modify the right to a jury trial through its power to change the common law. Manzanares v. Bell, 214 Kan. 589, 598, 616, 522 P.2d 1291 (1974). This power, however, is not absolute. Under Manzanares, any statutory modification of the common law must meet due process requirements and be reasonably necessary in the public interest to promote the general welfare of the people of the state. 214 Kan. at 599. Due process requires that the legislative means selected have a real and substantial relation to the objective sought. Ernest v. Faler, 237 Kan. 125, 129, 697 P.2d 870 (1985). One way to meet due process requirements is through substitute remedies. We have never held one to have a vested right in the common-law rules governing negligence actions so as to preclude substituting a viable statutory remedy. Manzanares v. Bell, 214 Kan. at 599. This concept of an adequate substitute remedy is known as quid pro quo (this for that). It finds its basis in a long line of Kansas due process cases. For example, the court in Shade v. Cement Co., 93 Kan. 257, 144 Pac. 249 (1914) upheld the validity of worker's compensation legislation because coverage under the act was elective. The court ruled that the statutes did not deprive a worker of his right to a jury trial because the worker could chose to seek a remedy in the common law rather than under the statute, provided he made his election prior to injury. More recently, this court noted that, while the worker's compensation laws are no longer elective, they do remove certain common-law remedies for injured employees but provide a statutory substitute therefor. Rajala v. Doresky, 233 Kan. 440, 441, 661 P.2d 1251 (1983). The Rajala court upheld the legislation because the legislature provided, as a substitute, a viable statutory remedy. In Manzanares, the court upheld the Kansas Automobile Injury Reparations Act (K.S.A. 40-3101 et seq. ), noting that it provided a prompt recovery for loss without the requirement of proving liability in return for limits on the right to recovery. 214 Kan. at 599. Under K.S.A. 40-3117, any person who was entitled to no-fault benefits and whose medical expenses were less than $500 or who suffered no permanent disfigurement, fracture, or permanent injury, could not recover in a tort action for any nonpecuniary loss such as pain and suffering. 214 Kan. at 597. The court found, in substance, that the injured person entitled to benefits under the statute received a sufficient quid pro quo for the limitation placed on his right to a jury trial. The provision obviously did not affect the rights of a seriously injured plaintiff. The legislation involved here seriously limits a plaintiff's right to recover nonpecuniary losses and then goes even further. It cuts off total recovery, and then requires the plaintiff to accept his award for future economic loss in the form of an annuity. In return for this infringement of his rights, the injured patient does not receive prompt payment (as in no-fault insurance) or a reduced burden of proof (as in workers' compensation). Rather, according to defendant, the plaintiff will receive regular payments, unattachable by creditors. He also will receive the benefits of lower-cost health care because doctors will save money on their insurance and obviously pass the savings on to their customers. Because of these savings, more doctors will also be able to continue their practices, thus assuring the plaintiff of available health care. Perhaps most importantly, defendant argues that the medical malpractice plaintiff will be guaranteed a recovery because of the doctor's insurance coverage. Defendant points out that many tort victims receive no compensation for their injuries because the tortfeasor has no assets. However, as the trial court noted, this argument begs the question. Since 1976, health care providers in Kansas have been required to carry liability insurance in order to practice. L. 1976, ch. 231, § 2; K.S.A. 40-3402. Medical malpractice plaintiffs thus already had a source of recovery for their injuries  H.B. 2661 adds nothing to it. Nor do the savings that H.B. 2661 promises outweigh the plaintiff's lost rights. Actuaries testified that H.B. 2661 would result in a 5% decrease in the Fund surcharge. Should a doctor decide to pass these savings on to his hundreds of patients, each person's savings would be minuscule. In return, the terribly injured patient is denied all remedy for those injuries and losses which exceed the caps. This substitute remedy is truly inadequate and denies a seriously injured patient his right to trial by jury. H.B. 2661 is, in effect, a statutory compulsory, preestablished remittitur. Its cap provisions force a successful plaintiff to forego part of his jury award without his consent, in clear contradiction of the general rule that damages for personal injury are to be reduced by remittitur only when they shock the conscience of the court and only by providing the injured plaintiff the option of accepting the remittitur or asking for a new trial. See Slocum v. Kansas Power & Light Co., 190 Kan. 747, 378 P.2d 51 (1963); U.P. Rly. Co. v. Mitchell, 56 Kan. 324, 43 Pac. 244 (1896); Mo. Pac. Rly. Co. v. Dwyer, 36 Kan. 58, 74-75, 12 Pac. 352 (1886). Other Kansas cases have clearly stated that damages are an issue for the jury alone, and are not to be arbitrarily limited by the court. In Domann v. Pence, 183 Kan. 135, 141, 325 P.2d 321 (1958), we find the following language: As was said and held in Knoche v. Meyer Sanitary Milk Co., 177 Kan. 423, 280 P.2d 605, there is of course no uniformity in our decisions on the proposition of when damages allowed in a personal injury action are excessive for the simple reason determination of the question necessarily depends upon the facts and circumstances of each particular case as it is presented for review. To like effect is Smith v. Wichita Transportation Corp., 179 Kan. 8, 293 P.2d 242. No verdict is right which more than compensates  and none is right which fails to compensate. ( Union Pac. Ry. Co. v. Milliken, 8 Kan. 647, 655.) Pain and suffering have no known dimensions, mathematical or financial. There is no exact relationship between money and physical or mental injury or suffering, and the various factors involved are not capable of proof in dollars and cents. For this very practical reason the only standard for evaluation is such amount as reasonable persons estimate to be fair compensation for the injuries suffered, and the law has entrusted the administration of this criterion to the impartial conscience and judgment of jurors, who may be expected to act reasonably, intelligently and in harmony with the evidence. For these reasons, the caps and annuity provisions of H.B. 2661 violate the right to jury trial guaranteed by Section 5 of the Bill of Rights of the Kansas Constitution. Therefore, those sections are unconstitutional.