Opinion ID: 853600
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Statute Is A Rational Means of Achieving a Legitimate Legislative Goal

Text: Although we reject the McIntoshes' argument that the constitution precludes the General Assembly from modifying or eliminating a common law tort, the legislature's authority is not without limits. Section 12 requires that legislation that deprives a person of a complete tort remedy must be a rational means to achieve a legitimate legislative goal. As elaborated in Johnson, 273 Ind. at 396, 404 N.E.2d at 599, [T]he limitation upon patient recoveries is not arbitrary and irrational, but furthers the public purposes of the Act.... In Martin, we also found a requirement that, as applied to the individual case, the limitation must not be an unreasonable impediment to the exercise of an otherwise valid claim. This requirement is a variation on the substantive due process theme and imposes an overall test of rationality very similar to the requirement of a rational relationship under Section 23 discussed below. The Product Liability Act meets both tests. The statute of repose represents a determination by the General Assembly that an injury occurring ten years after the product has been in use is not a legally cognizable injury that is to be remedied by the courts. This decision was based on its apparent conclusion that after a decade of use, product failures are due to reasons not fairly laid at the manufacturer's door. Estate of Shebel v. Yaskawa Elec. Am., Inc., 713 N.E.2d 275, 278 (Ind.1999). The statute also serves the public policy concerns of reliability and availability of evidence after long periods of time, and the ability of manufacturers to plan their affairs without the potential for unknown liability. Id. The statute of repose is rationally related to meeting these legitimate legislative goals. It provides certainty and finality with a bright line bar to liability ten years after a product's first use. It is also rationally related to the General Assembly's reasonable determination that, in the vast majority of cases, failure of products over ten years old is due to wear and tear or other causes not the fault of the manufacturer, and the substantial interests already identified warrant establishing a bright line after which no claim is created. In sum, the McIntoshes do not have a vested interest in the state of the common law as it existed before the Product Liability Act was passed. The General Assembly has made the permissible legislative choice to limit product liability actions to the first ten years of a product's use. Accordingly, the McIntoshes' injuries, which occurred after the ten-year statute of repose ended, were not legally cognizable injuries for which a remedy exists and the statute of repose does not violate Section 12.