Opinion ID: 2167636
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Equal protection of the laws denied.

Text: Laws of 1971, Chapter 784, section 2, purports to give the Act retrospective effect to any cause of action arising prior to July 1, 1968. This has the anomalous result of reviving a cause of action, which would otherwise be barred, where death occurred within three years prior to July 1, 1968, but leaving dead and buried a cause of action where death occurred on or after July 1, 1968, but prior to July 1, 1969. The mere recital of this possibility demonstrates that this Act deprives appellees of the equal protection of the laws and is, therefore, unconstitutional under the Constitution of the United States, Amendment XIV. In Tatlebaum v. Pantex Mfg. Corp., 204 Md. 360, 369-370, 104 A.2d 813, 819 (1954), this Court said, The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that equal protection shall be given to all persons under like circumstances in the enjoyment of their civil and personal rights. Hence, a statute placing burdens upon an individual or limiting his rights may be invalidated because of an arbitrary or unreasonable classification or discrimination. Barbier v. Connolly, 113 U.S. 27; 5 S.Ct. 357, 359; 28 L.Ed. 923. Such is this case. See also, M. & C.C. of Baltimore v. Concord, 257 Md. 132, 140, 262 A.2d 755, 759 (1970); Mullen v. Director, 6 Md. App. 120, 126, 250 A.2d 281, 284 (1969); Leonardo v. Bd. of County Com. of St. Mary's County, 214 Md. 287, 304, 134 A.2d 284, 292 (1957).