Court Opinion

ID: 9762773
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:30:47.527057+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:37.376906
License: Public Domain

COOPER, Justice,
dissenting.
Respectfully, I must dissent, not because the notion of awarding damages to a child for loss of parental consortium is without merit, but because the Constitution of Kentucky has removed the issue from the jurisdiction of this Court.
There is not and never has been a common law right of action for wrongful death. Smith’s Adm’r v. National Coal & Iron Co., 135 Ky. 671, 117 S.W. 280 (1909); Eden v. Lexington & Frankfort B.R. Co., 53 Ky. (14 B. Mon.) 204 (1853). “The maxim, ‘Actio personalis moritur cum persona,’ was the uniform rule of the common law, and prevails in Kentucky to-day (sic), except where it has been modified by the express language of the Constitution and statute.” Gregory v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., Ky., 80 S.W. 795 (1904).
The history of wrongful death statutes began in England with the adoption of Lord Campbell’s Act in 1846. The first such statute in Kentucky was adopted in 1851, Rev. Stats., ch. 31, § 1, and granted a cause of action to a widow and minor child of one killed in a duel. In 1854, the General Assembly enacted a statute allowing recovery for death arising from “the neglect or misconduct of railroad companies and others.” 1 Acts 1853-54, p. 175, ch. 964. The cause of action was. vested in the “widow, heir or personal representative of the deceased.” This statute, as amended, was later compiled as General Statutes, ch. 57, § 3, then as Kentucky Statutes of 1903 (Carroll’s Ky. Stats.) ch. 1, § 6, and now as KRS 411.130. In 1866, the General Assembly enacted a statute permitting the widow and children to recover for the death of their husband/parent caused by the careless or wanton or malicious use of a firearm, provided the perpetrator was not acting in self-defense. Rev. Stats., Myers Supp. 681 (1866). This statute was also recompiled within General Statutes, chapter 57, which then became Kentucky Statutes of 1903 (Carroll’s) ch. 1, § 4, and is now KRS 411.150. For a more detailed history of our wrongful death statutes, see Sturgeon v. Baker, 312 Ky. 338, 227 S.W.2d 202 (1950), Jordan’s Adm’r v. Cincinnati, N.O. & T.P. Ry. Co., 89 Ky. 40, 11 S.W. 1013 (1889), and O’Donoghue v. Akin, 63 Ky. (2 Duv.) 478 (1866).
Prior to the adoption of the 1891 Constitution, there was substantial confusion and uncertainty not only as to whom the cause of action to recover damages belonged, but when the action might be maintained, if at all. Howard’s Adm’r v. Hunter, 126 Ky. 685, *324104 S.W. 723, 725 (1907). For example, in Henderson’s Adm’r v. Kentucky C. Ry. Co., 86 Ky. 389, 5 S.W. 875 (1887), it was held that the word “heir” in Gen. St., ch. 57, § 3 was limited to a child or children of the deceased. The Court invited the legislature to cure this defect, but two efforts to do so were defeated in the House of Representatives. 4 Debates of Constitutional Convention of 1890, 4686-87. In fact, Delegate William Goebel, whose subsequent gubernatorial election, assassination, and deathbed inauguration are chronicled in Taylor v. Beckham, 108 Ky. 278, 56 S.W. 177 (1900), related on the floor of the 1890 constitutional convention that the second such bill had been “earned away from the city of Frankfort and kept away for months for the express purpose of preventing a consideration of it.” Debates, supra, at 4687.
Furthermore, just prior to the 1890 constitutional convention, a judge of the Jefferson Circuit Court had declared another section of the wrongful death act unconstitutional, because it purportedly discriminated against railroads. Id. This undoubtedly contributed to the delegates’ concerns as to the future viability of tort recovery for wrongful death. (The Jefferson Circuit Court’s ruling was reversed on appeal, Louisville Safety-Vault & Trust Co. v. Louisville & N.R. Co., 92 Ky. 233, 17 S.W. 567 (1891), but not until after the convention had concluded its work.) What is clear from the convention debates is that the delegates trusted neither the legislature nor the courts to protect the statutory cause of action for wrongful death. It was in this atmosphere that the delegates adopted Section 241 of our present Constitution, which provides in its entirety (the majority opinion quotes only the first sentence) as follows:
Whenever the death of a person shall result from an injury inflicted by negligence or wrongful act, then, in every such case, damages may be recovered for such death, from the corporations and persons so causing the same. Until otherwise provided by law, the action to recover such damages shall in all cases be prosecuted by the personal representative of the deceased person. The General Assembly may provide how the recovery shall go and to whom belong; and until such provision is made, the same shall form part of the personal estate of the deceased person.
(Emphasis added.) Thus, the delegates clearly intended to vest in the legislature the sole authority to determine what causes of action would be permitted, who would be authorized to bring those actions, what damages would be recoverable, and to whom the damages would belong. Delegate Goebel stated just moments before the favorable vote on Section 241:
Does not this provide that the General Assembly may provide how and to whom the recovery shall go and belong? We expressly leave that matter to the Legislature; but say, until there is something different provided on the subject, the recovery shall go as part of personal estate of the deceased. I take it, that after the cause of action has been created, the General Assembly will provide for a just distribution of their recovery.
Debates, supra, at 4719 (emphasis added). If the legislature did not act, then Section 241 was self-executing, i.e., the cause of action was constitutionally created, the personal representative had sole authority to bring the action, and the damages belonged to the estate of the deceased to be distributed in accordance with his last will and testament, or, if none, in accordance with the laws of descent and distribution. Thomas v. Royster, 98 Ky. 206, 32 S.W. 613 (1895).
When the legislature enacted chapter 1, § 6 of the Kentucky Statutes of 1903, now KRS 411.130, it provided first that an action for wrongful death premised upon the negligence or wrongful act of another could be brought only by the personal representative of the deceased, then provided how the damages recovered in that action would be distributed. As pertains to the facts of this case, one-half of the recovery is for the benefit of the husband of the deceased and one-half for the benefit of her children. The measure of damages recoverable for wrongful death was established in Louisville & N.R. Co. v. Eakins’ Adm’r, 103 Ky. 465, 45 S.W. 529 (1898) as being the sum which would fairly compensate the estate of the *325deceased for the destruction of his ability to earn money, and specifically not for the affliction which had overtaken the decedent’s family as a result of his death.
There is no rule of law under which the estate of a deceased father of a dozen children can properly recover, on account of his death, more than the estate of such a father of one child or none. The real question in the case is, what was the value of the decedent’s life to his estate? and the number of his children can have no legitimate bearing upon that question....
Id., 45 S.W., at 531. Logic 'supports this conclusion; for the personal representative represents only the decedent’s estate, and the estate can recover only for the loss of the decedent’s life, not for damages personal to his survivors. As Justice Leibson succinctly noted in his dissent (on other grounds) in Adams v. Miller, Ky., 908 S.W.2d 112 (1995),
Kentucky’s wrongful death statute is not a survivor’s loss statute, so it does not provide a basis for extending a right of recovery for minor children for loss of parental care.
Id. at 117. Thus, we have consistently held that absent a legislative enactment, there can be no cause of action for loss of services or loss of consortium as a result of wrongful death. E.g., Adams v. Miller, supra; Brooks v. Burkeen, Ky., 549 S.W.2d 91 (1977); Gregory v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., Ky., 80 S.W. 795 (1904); Harris v. Kentucky Lumber Co., Ky., 45 S.W. 94 (1898).
In 1968, the legislature enacted KRS 411.135, which permits a parent of a deceased child whose death resulted from the wrongful act of another to bring an action for the loss of affection and companionship of that child. 1968 Ky. Acts, ch. 30, § 2. In Department of Education v. Blevins, Ky., 707 S.W.2d 782 (1986), we upheld the constitutionality of that statute as being within the authority granted to the legislature by Section 241. The legislature has seen fit not to enact a comparable statute giving a child a cause of action for the loss and companionship of a deceased parent. In fact, as recently as the 1996 regular session of the General Assembly, Senate Bill No. 139, which would have created such a cause of action, was introduced and rejected. That action, which the majority opinion mischaraeterizes as inaction, was also within the legislature’s constitutionally granted prerogative.
Today, the majority opinion holds in this case that because the legislature rejected Senate Bill No. 139, this Court shall enact it by judicial fiat. In so doing, the majority has exceeded the constitutional jurisdiction of this Court.
There are few constitutional principles more sacred than the doctrine of Separation of Powers. This principle is strongly enunciated in Section 27 of our Constitution, which establishes three separate and distinct branches of government, and in Section 28, which specifically prohibits one branch from exercising any power belonging to either of the others, except as permitted elsewhere in the Constitution. Until today, we have zealously protected the constitutionally defined domains of each branch of government against intrusions by the others. E.g., Legislative Research Commission v. Brown, Ky., 664 S.W.2d 907 (1984) (legislative encroachment upon the executive branch); Ex parte Auditor of Public Accounts, Ky., 609 S.W.2d 682 (1980) (executive encroachment upon the judicial branch); Arnett v. Meade, Ky., 462 S.W.2d 940 (1971) (legislative encroachment upon the judicial branch). We have been particularly circumspect with respect to requests by litigants to invade the constitutionally defined province of the legislature, even when we believe the legislature has made a wrong decision, so long as the decision was merely wrong and not unconstitutional.
[T]he fact that the legislature may make a wrong decision is no reason why the judiciary should invade what has been designated as the exclusive domain of another department of government_ With respect to this subject matter, the people have reposed that responsibility in the legislature. The courts are without jurisdiction to review its solemn determination.
Raney v. Stovall, Ky., 361 S.W.2d 518, 523-24 (1962); see also Taylor v. Beckham, supra, 56 S.W., at 184; cf. Jensen v. State Board of Elections, 949 S.W.2d 572, 578 (1997). Likewise, Section 241 of the Constitution has reposed in the legislature the re*326sponsibility for determining who can recover what damages for the wrongful death of another. An action for the loss of affection and companionship of a deceased parent is neither more nor less than an action for the death of that parent. Harris v. Kentucky Lumber Co., supra.
The majority’s reliance upon Kotsiris v. Ling, Ky., 451 S.W.2d 411 (1970) is misplaced. In that case, we granted a wife a common law right of action for the loss of consortium of her husband resulting from the wrongful infliction of personal injuries upon him. Since that action was not a claim for wrongful death, Section 241 was not implicated by our decision. The majority’s citation to Dietzman v. Mullin, 108 Ky. 610, 57 S.W. 247 (1900) is more curious, since that was an action brought by a married woman for the alienation of the affections of her husband, a common law cause of action which we have since abolished. Hoye v. Hoye, Ky., 824 S.W.2d 422 (1992). Nor does Hilen v. Hays, Ky., 673 S.W.2d 713 (1984) have any relevance here. That case dealt with this Court’s role in the development of the common law. A constitutional provision preempts the common law. Ky. Const., § 233; Adams Bros. v. Clark, 189 Ky. 279, 224 S.W. 1046, 1048 (1920). “Judicially created common law must always yield to the superior policy of legislative enactment and the Constitution.” Commonwealth, ex rel. Cowan v. Wilkinson, Ky., 828 S.W.2d 610, 614 (1992). Particularly unpersuasive are the majority’s string citations to eases from foreign jurisdictions which do not have constitutional provisions similar to Section 241 and to statutes enacted by the legislatures of other states. If the 1996 General Assembly had enacted Senate Bill 139, Appellants would not be here today asking this Court to enact it by judicial fiat.
The majority also cites “public policy” as a basis for usurping the General Assembly’s constitutional prerogative with respect to this issue. Yet, only five years ago, the author of the majority opinion in this case wrote the following in Commonwealth, ex rel. Cowan v. Wilkinson, supra:
[T]he establishment of public policy is not within the authority of the courts. Section 27 of the Kentucky Constitution provides that the powers of government be divided into three distinct units: Executive, Legislative and Judicial. The establishment of public policy is granted to the legislature alone....
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The courts cannot legitimately usurp the province of [another branch of government] by applying some theory of common law public policy.
Id. at 614. Yet, in this case, we illegitimately usurp the province of the legislature in direct contravention of the mandates of Sections 28 and 241 of our Constitution.
For these reasons, I would affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.
STEPHENS, C.J., and LAMBERT, J„ join this dissent.