Court Opinion

ID: 9560987
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:00:43.327035+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:27.451328
License: Public Domain

Hunter, J.
(dissenting) — For convenience and better continuity, the facts and issues will be re-stated in this dissent.
Eugene Hammack (hereinafter referred to as though he *234were the-sole plaintiff and appellant) , an employee, of the Union Iron Works,. Spokane, Washington, was seriously injured when the automobile he wais driving was struck from the rear by an automobile driven by Mr. Grant Sands, on the morning of April 4, 195.5. Mr. Sands was employed by the defendant Monroe Street Lumber Company, and the accident occurred while he was on company business. There appears to be no controversy but that the accident was caused through the negligence of Sands.
The plaintiff instituted this action to recover for personal injuries and the damage to his privately owned automobile. In its answer, the defendant pleaded immunity to the action by reason of the Laws .of 1939, chapter 41, § 2, p. 123 [cf. RCW 51.24.010], which provides in part:
“ . . . That no action may be brought against any employer or any workman under this act as a third person if at the time of the accident such employer or such workman was in the course of any extra-hazardous employment under this act. . . .”
This defense was pleaded in view of the fact that both the defendant lumber company and the plaintiff’s employer come within the provisions of the act, their work having been previously classified as extrahazardous employment.
The trial court found that the plaintiff was in the course of his employment at the time of the collision and dismissed the action on the basis of the immunity clause.
In the first appeal reported in 49 Wn. (2d) 581, 303 P. (2d) 1095 (1956), the remittitur having gone down on May 17, 1957, this court reversed the judgment in part, holding the immunity clause did not bar an action for property damage, and remanded the cause for personal injury for further findings in respect to the disposition of the appellant’s claim for compensation under the act for the reason that a rejection of the claim on the ground that the workman was not in the course of his employment would be res judicata in a subsequent action against the employer. Therefore, it was necessary to know the outcome of the disposition of this claim, as this court may otherwise have been passing *235upon an issue which , had been previously adjudicated. Thereafter, the parties stipulated that the trial court should incorporate in its findings an order of the board of industrial insurance appeals suspending the proceedings before it. New findings and conclusions were entered incorporating this stipulation and, in accordance with the reversal of this court as to disallowance of damages to the automobile, judgment was entered on September 26, 1957, allowing the plaintiff one hundred dollars property damage and denying any recovery for personal injuries sustained.
The appellant argued in the trial court and in this court that he is entitled to judgment for his personal injuries by virtue of the repeal of the immunity clause. Laws of 1957, chapter 70, § 23, p. 279. In substance, the appellant contends, in so far as essential to our consideration, (1) that the repeal of the third-party immunity statute by the legislature, prior to final judgment in this case having been entered, entitled him to judgment; (2) that the trial court erred in fixing damages for personal injuries and that, in any event, they are grossly inadequate.
The enactment in effect at the time of appellant’s injury appears in the Laws of 1939, chapter 41, § 2, p. 123, and provides in part:
“Workman means every person in this state, who is engaged in the employment of any employer coming under this act whether by way of manual labor or otherwise, in the course of his employment: Provided, however, That if the injury to a workman is due to the negligence or wrong of another not in the same employ, the injured workman, or if death result from the injury, his widow, children, or dependents, as the case may be, shall elect whether to take under this act or seek a remedy against such other, such election to be in advance of any suit under this section; and if he take under this act, the cause of action against such other shall be assigned to the state for the benefit of the accident fund; if the other choice is made, the accident fund shall contribute only the deficiency, if any, between the amount of recovery against such third person actually collected, and the compensation provided or estimated by this act for such case: Provided, however, That no action.may be brought against any• employer or. any workman under *236this act as a third person if at the time of the accident such employer or such workman was in the course of any extra-hazardous employment under this act. ...” (Italics mine.)
The immunity provision, italicized above, was removed in Laws of 1957, chapter 70, § 23, p. 279, and as amended provides:
“If the injury to a workman is due to negligence or wrong of another not in the same employ, the injured workman or, if death results from the injury, his widow, children, or dependents, as the case may be, shall elect whether to take under this title or seek a remedy against such other, such election to be in advance of any suit under this section and, if he takes under this title, the cause of action against such other shall be assigned to the state for the benefit of the accident fund and the medical aid fund; if the other choice is made, the accident fund shall contribute only the deficiency, if any, between the amount of recovery against such third person actually collected and the compensation provided or estimated by this title for such case: Provided, That the injured workman or if death results from his injury, his widow, children or dependents as the case may be, electing to seek a remedy against such other person, shall receive benefits payable under this title as if such election had not been made, and the department for the benefit of the accident fund and the medical aid fund to the extent of such payments having been made by the department to the injured workman or if death results from his injury, his widow, children or dependents as the case may be shall be subrogated to the rights of such person or persons against the recovery had from such third party and shall have a lien thereupon. . . . ”
Appellant’s contention that the sole defense of respondent has been removed by operation of law requires a retrospective operation of the statute. We stated the rule applicable to such statutory construction in Pape v. Department of Labor & Industries, 43 Wn. (2d) 736, 264 P. (2d) 241 (1953):
“Laws may operate either prospectively or retrospectively, or both. A prospective law is one which is to operate in the future — that is, is applicable only to cases arising after its enactment. A retrospective law is one which is made to operate upon some subject, contract, or crime *237which existed before the passage of the law. 3 Bouvier’s Law Dictionary (Rawle’s Third Rev.), 2754 and 2950. A retrospective law, in the legal sense, is one which takes away or impairs vested rights acquired in the existing laws, or creates a new obligation and imposes a new duty, or attaches a new disability, in respect to transactions or considerations already past. 50 Am. Jur. 492, Statutes, § 476.
“The question whether a statute operates retrospectively, or prospectively only, is one of legislative intent. In determining such intent, the courts have evolved a strict rule of construction against a retrospective operation, and indulge in the presumption that the legislature intended statutes or amendments thereto to operate prospectively only. 50 Am. Jur. 495, Statutes, § 478. It is not necessary, however, that the statute expressly state that it shall operate retrospectively, if such intention can be obtained from the purpose and method of its enactment.
“This general rule of construction, that the legislature intended an act to operate prospectively only, is not applied when the statute relates to remedies only, and does not affect vested rights. In the absence of language showing a contrary intent, a new law changing a remedy is generally regarded as applicable to all remedies — those which have accrued and those which will accrue in the future. Nelson v. Department of Labor & Industries, 9 Wn. (2d) 621, 115 P. (2d) 1014.” (Italics mine.)
Applying these rules to the present case, and in the absence of any language indicating legislative intent as to a retrospective operation of the statute, the appellant therefore must come within the above exception (italicized) to prevail. An examination of the history of the workmen’s compensation act as originally enacted (Laws of 1911, chapter 74, p. 345) and the successive amendments, makes it abundantly clear that the repeal of the immunity proviso, with which we are concerned in the 1957 enactment, deals with and relates solely to the remedies available to workmen for compensation for injuries sustained while in the course of their extrahazardous employment under the act.
The repeal of the immunity proviso, by its omission in the 1957 enactment, removed a bar to a remedy of a workman to sue third party employers or workmen also coming under *238the act, for injuries sustained by reason of the latter’s tor-tious conduct.
The problem resolves itself-to this single question: Do the employers and workmen under the act, benefited by this provision in the 1939 enactment, have a vested right in this immunity from liability? In Robinson v. McHugh, 158 Wash. 157, 291 Pac. 330 (1930), we held:
“Where a tort action can be brought only by virtue of a statute, there can be no vested right therein, and the legislature may take away the right at any time. ...”
The Robinson case has since been cited with approval by this court in Denning v. Quist, 160 Wash. 681, 296 Pac. 145 (1931); Pape v. Department of Labor & Industries, supra; Hansen v. West Coast Wholesale Drug Co., 47 Wn. (2d) 825, 289 P. (2d) 718 (1955).
The rule can be stated with the same force when applied to immunity from suit in a tort action. When this immunity from suit exists only by virtue of a statute, there can be no vested right therein, and the legislature may take away that right sit any time.
In the present case, the respondent had no immunity at common law from answering in damages to persons injured as a proximate result of its negligent and tortious conduct. This right to such immunity arose only by virtue of the benefits afforded it as an employer coming within the scope of the workmen’s compensation act. This immunity, having been granted by the legislature, may be taken away by it, removing the bar to the exercise of a workman’s remedy for injuries suffered. Robinson v. McHugh, supra. The removal of the immunity provision of the 1957 statute, being remedial in effect and not disturbing a vested right, comes within the exception to the general rule against retrospective statutory construction. Pape v. Department of Labor & Industries, supra.
However, the respondent contends this construction cannot be applied in a case where a right has been reduced to judgment; that a judgment is a property right which the legislature cánnot disturb without running athwart of the *239düe process clause of the, fourteenth amendment of the United States constitution, and Art. I, § 3, of the Washington state constitution. Calkins v. Department of Labor & Industries, 10 Wn. (2d) 565, 117 P. (2d) 640 (1941); Curry v. Department of Labor & Industries, 49 Wn. (2d) 93, 298 P. (2d) 485 (1956).
Here the respondent had no judgment at the time of the passage of the 1957 enactment. As stated in Hammack v. Monroe Street Lbr. Co., 49 Wn. (2d) 581, 303 P. (2d) 1095 (1956), on the first appeal of this case:
“Because it is impossible to say from this record what the ultimate disposition of the industrial insurance claim was, the cause must be remanded to the trial court with directions to make a finding upon that matter and, if necessary, to reopen the case for the reception of evidence in that respect.
“Appellant’s assignment of error upon the dismissal of his cause of action for damages to his automobile must be sustained. The immunity previously noticed extends only to actions for personal injuries and not to property damage.
“That portion of the judgment denying recovery for damages to the automobile is reversed and the cause of action for personal injury is remanded for further findings.” (Italics mine.)
In order to comply with the direction of this court, it was necessary for further findings and conclusions and a new judgment based thereon to be entered. This is precisely what was done, and the judgment appealed from now before this court was entered on September 27,1957, after the effective date of the 1957 amendment. No property rights of an existing judgment were thereby disturbed by a retrospective operation of the statute.
Appellant contends that, in the event of the favorable ruling of this court on liability, the damages found by the trial court should be set aside as inadequate. An examination of the record does not support this contention.
The judgment of the trial court should be reversed with instructions to enter judgment in favor of the appellant, in accordance with the damages heretofore found by the trial court in the sum of $15,177.64, together with $100 for car *240damage, as directed in our judgment on the first appeal, supra.
Finley and Rosellini, JJ., concur with Hunter, J.
August 14, 1959. Petition for rehearing denied.