Court Opinion

ID: 9578374
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:44:37.595438+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:20:02.793136
License: Public Domain

*106Hicks, J.
(dissenting) — I find no reason to depart from the court's opinion following the first hearing of this matter. Wyman v. Wallace, 91 Wn.2d 317, 588 P.2d 1133 (1979). Nothing has changed except the personnel of the court. The record on appeal is the same — as nonexistent as in the first hearing. The oral presentation to the court seemed no more persuasive the second time around. The fact of the matter is that but for the fortuitous event of a change of one member on the court, it is unlikely that reconsideration in this matter would have been granted in the first place.
It is to be noted that the action for alienation of affections has been part of the common law of this state from a time before Washington was a state — from territorial days. The abrogation of such a long-standing cause of action effects a substantial change in the state's public policy. It would seem this should not be lightly undertaken.
The majority opinion, at some length, explains that the court has the power to abolish a common law cause of action not specifically adopted by enactment of the legislature. I agree. The court has such power with or, as in this case, without compelling reason for so doing. We should, however, be hesitant in discarding a cause of action of such antiquity unless it has truly become an anachronism — a determination better made by the legislature than this court.
As acknowledged by the majority, no court in the United States has previously abolished the cause of action for alienation of affections. Where such action has been taken, the legislature has been the entity effecting the change in the state's policy, as it should here if there is to be a change. Our legislature with its 147 members, representing as it does all facets of society, is better able than this court to make the value judgment necessary in deciding whether the action for alienation of affections is inappropriate to current mores and circumstances. Particularly is this true considering the record in this case — inadequate to the point of nonexistence.
*107The majority's action here is not a matter of perfecting the law by fashioning a remedy where none previously existed in order to correct an ongoing social wrong. This court has been in the forefront of such judicial innovation, as was noted in the first opinion in this matter. Wyman v. Wallace, supra. It is simply out of character for the court to deny a remedy where a wrong continues to exist.
The gravamen of the cause of action for alienation of affections is interference with consortium. In another context, this court recently expanded this state's tort law by holding that in a proper case loss of consortium may be a compensable item in a damage action for personal injury. Lundgren v. Whitney's, Inc., 94 Wn.2d 91, 614 P.2d 1272 (1980). That decision buttresses my contention that the majority's rationale for abolishing the cause of action for alienation of affections rests on no firmer basis than the personal predilections of its members. That may be reason enough for action by a legislative body; it is highly dubious that it provides sufficient occasion for a court to act.
If, as seems apparent, the majority is determined to inter the action for alienation of affections, it should at least await a case supported by some record before pronouncing the final rites.
I dissent.
Wright, J., concurs with Hicks, J.