Opinion ID: 1439615
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: other constitutional provisions

Text: Other provisions of the Wyoming Constitution on which appellant relies similarly constrain legislative action only to the extent that it is unreasonable. None of those provisions warrants resort to an intermediate level of scrutiny to determine the legitimacy of W.S. 1-39-120. Those provisions state, in pertinent part: Article 1, § 2: In their inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all members of the human race are equal. Section 3: Since equality in the enjoyment of natural and civil rights is only made sure through political equality, the laws of this state affecting the political rights and privileges of its citizens shall be without distinction of race, color, sex, or any circumstance or condition whatsoever other than individual incompetency, or unworthiness duly ascertained by a court of competent jurisdiction. Section 6: No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Section 7: Absolute, arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of freemen exists nowhere in a republic, not even in the largest majority. Section 34: All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation. Article 3, § 27: The legislature shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases, that is to say:    for limitation of civil actions;    granting to any corporation, association or individual    any special or exclusive privilege, immunity or franchise   . In all other cases where a general law can be made applicable no special law shall be enacted. Article 10, § 4: No law shall be enacted limiting the amount of damages to be recovered for causing the injury or death of any person. We have held that the personal and political rights secured by the equal protection provisions of Article 1, §§ 2 and 3, are not absolute, and that those sections do not preclude the legislature from imposing reasonable restrictions on such rights in the public interest. Haskins v. State ex rel. Harrington, 516 P.2d 1171, 1173-74, 70 A.L.R.3d 1171 (Wyo. 1973). Similarly, we have held that legislative restrictions on those rights satisfy our constitutional standard of substantive due process unless they are unreasonable and arbitrary. Cheyenne Airport Board, 707 P.2d at 726-27. Thus, a statute which would be deemed constitutional under the reasonableness standard of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution also complies with the requirements of Article 1, § 6. State v. Laude, 654 P.2d 1223, 1228 (Wyo. 1982). We reach the same result when analyzing such a statute according to the standard of Article 1, § 7, for much of the substantive content of § 6 is derived from the language of § 7. See generally State v. Langley, 53 Wyo. 332, 84 P.2d 767, 770-71 (1938) (the separate inclusion of both § 6 and § 7 in our constitution represented the framers' understanding that the concept of due process consisted not only of the historically accepted procedural element evident on the face of § 6, but also entailed restraints on the passage of substantive laws such that the majority could exercise its will against an individual only to the extent that such an exercise was reasonable and not arbitrary); Weaver v. Public Service Commission, 40 Wyo. 462, 278 P. 542, 547-48 (1929) (Article 1, §§ 2 and 7 and the general nature of the police power provided in the content of Article 1, § 6, require legislative actions to be reasonable, to operate with equality, and to be in the service of the public's welfare). Appellant's reliance on Article 1, § 34 and Article 3, § 27 is also unfounded. We have held that these complementary provisions do not proscribe reasonable classifications; that they only require a statute to operate in a similar manner upon all persons in the same circumstances. Meyer v. Kendig, 641 P.2d 1235, 1240 (Wyo. 1982); Mountain Fuel Supply, 578 P.2d at 1356; May v. City of Laramie, 58 Wyo. 240, 131 P.2d 300, 305-06 (1942). Furthermore, it is obvious that appellant's reliance on these provisions is nothing more than a restatement of his equal protection argument, for he does not argue that the contested statute constitutes a prohibited special law. He merely argues that, as a general law, it must operate uniformly. Therefore, our only concern under these provisions is whether any classification accomplished by the statute was reasonably related to a legitimate legislative goal. Id. Finally, appellant asserts that W.S. 1-39-120, by denying his cause of action, amounts to a limitation on damages in contravention of Article 10, § 4 of the Wyoming Constitution. We expressly rejected this general argument in Meyer, 641 P.2d at 1239. Additionally, speaking specifically of the Governmental Claims Act, we have held that Art. 10, § 4 may prevent the legislature from imposing arbitrary limits on damages, but it does not prevent limitations on the types of actions which may be brought against the State. Troyer, 722 P.2d at 163. Thus, this provision is inapplicable to the present case. Appellant, therefore, has cited no provision of the Wyoming Constitution which provides him with protections independent of substantive due process and equal protection analysis. Neither has he established that he is entitled to anything more than traditional rational scrutiny of § 1-39-120.