Court Opinion

ID: 9792587
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:31:19.130834+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:43.784914
License: Public Domain

*633DISSENTING OPINION OF
NAKAMURA, J.,
WITH WHOM RICHARDSON, C.J., JOINS
Two key provisions of the No-Fault Law1 as they apply to persons ineligible for no-fault benefits are invalidated by the court on equal protection grounds. Plaintiff-appellant, however, neither argued nor demonstrated his plight could be ascribed to a statutory classification that disadvantaged him, and I respectfully dissent.
I.
Compulsory insurance maintained by or on behalf of all persons who own or drive automobiles in the State of Hawaii is basic to the scheme of motor vehicle accident reparations adopted by the legislature. Thus the necessary insurance coverage is provided for persons receiving public assistance through the assigned risks plan established pursuant to HRS § 294-22, and plaintiff-appellant, a recipient of public assistance, was eligible for coverage under a no-fault insurance policy at no cost to himself when the accident causing him injury occurred. See HRS § 294-22(b)(2)(A).
Plaintiff-appellant was not then protected by a no-fault insurance policy and thus ineligible for no-fault benefits, but for reasons *634other than his impoverished state or a classification effected by the legislature. In the words of his counsel:
At the time of the accident, Plaintiff had possessed a no-fault insurance card which had not expired. However, unknown to him the insurance policy had been cancelled a few months earlier with notice sent to his parents’ home. Plaintiff had been living with his wife and child at Punaluu Beach Park, was unemployed and on welfare and had no actual knowledge of the cancellation. He was eligible for no-fault insurance coverage at no cost to him; but because he was unaware of the cancellation, had not applied for it through welfare.
I can only conclude from the above that neglect was the cause of plaintiff-appellant’s disqualification. Moreover, the neglect was not that of the insurance carrier since the parties agree the governing statutory provision was followed in the cancellation of the policy.
Yet the court subjects HRS §§ 294-6(a)(2) and 294-36(b)(2) to equal protection analysis and concludes they are constitutionally infirm as applied to persons ineligible for no-fault benefits but valid when applied to persons who have complied with requisites of the No-Fault Law. Presumably, one who would ignore the legislative command not to operate an uninsured vehicle now retains a right to sue in tort without limitation whenever harm accrues to him from a vehicular accident; but the law still circumscribes the rights of those who follow its mandate when they are injured. I cannot believe the demand for equal protection impels this result.
The pertinent “ ‘constitutional demand is not a demand that a statute necessarily apply equally to all persons.’ Rinaldi v. Yeager, 384 U.S. 305, 309 (1966).” Shibuya v. Architects Hawaii, Ltd., 65 Haw. 26, 35, 647 P.2d 276, 283 (1982). For “[t]he legislature, if it is to act at all, must impose special burdens upon or grant special benefits to special groups or classes of individuals.” Tussman & tenBroek, The Equal Protection of the Laws, 37 Calif. L. Rev. 341, 343 (1949). In adopting the No-Fault Law, the legislature acted to modify our system of motor vehicle accident reparations and imposed a special burden of compulsory insurance coverage on all owners and operators of motor vehicles in the State. The validity of the statute’s purpose is not questioned, but the court finds an infirmity in a classification purportedly effected thereby.
The compulsory insurance requirement, however, is common to *635all motorists. The burden of plaintiff-appellant and those similarly situated is not more onerous than that imposed upon any other owner or driver of a motor vehicle, for their monetary burdens with respect to no-fault insurance are assumed by the joint underwriting plan established pursuant to HRS Chapter 294 and maintained by no-fault insurers. See HRS §§ 294-20(a), 294-22(b)(2)(A), and 294-24(b)(2). Thus plaintiff-appellant was not disadvantaged by any distinctions drawn by the legislature and had no reason to invoke the equal protection guaranty, a fact he apparently recognized. T he court nevertheless concludes that two provisions of the No-Fault Law breach the Equal Protection Clause of the State Constitution.
But “[i]n construing statutory enactments whose constitutionality has been challenged, we have steadfasdy maintained ‘that every enactment of the legislature is presumptively constitutional, and a party challenging the statute has the burden of showing unconstitutionality beyond a reasonable doubt.’ Schwab v. Ariyoshi, 58 Haw. 25, 31, 564 P.2d 135, 139 (1977). See also Bishop v. Mahiko, 35 Haw. 608 (1940); In re Mott-Smith, 29 Haw. 343 (1926).” State v. Raitz, 63 Haw. 64, 72-73, 621 P.2d 352, 359 (1980). Plaintiff-appellant chose not to assume the difficult task of demonstrating unconstitutionality beyond a reasonable doubt, and the provisions questioned by the court were, therefore, presumptively constitutional.
II.
Plaintiff-appellant argued a literal application of the statutory provisions at issue would be unfair; his plea to the court was that they be construed to permit his suit, which he asserted was commenced within two years after fifteen hundred dollars in medical and rehabilitative expenses were accrued, to proceed. The court agrees plaintiff-appellant should not be denied the opportunity to present his claim for damages to the trial court. However, it adopts the drastic remedial expedient of divesting the provisions of all effect where persons ineligible for no-fault benefits are concerned.
“Our duty is to supply a rational interpretation of the statute if possible, not to destroy it or to create a vacuum.” State v. Raitz, 63 Haw. at 73, 621 P.2d at 359. “Moreover, ‘[i]f feasible within bounds set by their words and purpose, statutes should be construed to preserve their constitutionality.’ Altman v. Hofferber, 28 Cal.3d 161, *636175, 616 P.2d 836, 846, 167 Cal. Rptr. 854, 864 (1980).” Id.
In Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 297 U.S. 288 (1936), a historic case for more than one reason, Justice Brandéis summarized the rules developed by the Supreme Court for its governance when “constitutional questions [are] pressed upon it for decision.” Id. at 346 (Brandéis, J., concurring). The following are among the seven rules cited:
2. The Court will not ‘anticipate a question of constitutional law in advance of the necessity of deciding it.’ Liverpool, N.Y. & P.S.S. Co. v. Emigration Commissioners, 113 U.S. 33, 39; Abrams v. Van Schaick, 293 U.S. 188; Wilshire Oil Co. v. United States, 295 U.S. 100. ‘It is not the habit of the Court to decide questions of a constitutional nature unless absolutely necessary to a decision of the case.’ Burton v. United States, 196 U.S. 283, 295.
Id. at 346-47 (Brandéis, J., concurring) (footnote omitted); and
7. ‘When the validity of an act of the Congress is drawn in question, and even if a serious doubt of constitutionality is raised, it is a cardinal principle that this Court will first ascertain whether a construction of the statute is fairly possible by which the question may be avoided.’ Crowell v. Benson, 285 U.S. 22, 62.
Id. at 348 (Brandéis, J., concurring) (footnote omitted). We have echoed these sentiments as the government of Hawaii has long been one of separated powers and the restraints implicit in the federal system bind us too. Thus in Pan American Airways Co. v. Godbold, 36 Haw. 170 (1942), we said:
‘When a statute is susceptible of two constructions, one of which supports it and gives it effect, and the other renders it unconstitutional and void, the former is to be adopted, even though the latter may be the more natural interpretation of the language used, for an act is never to be construed as unconstitutional if a reasonable construction can be placed upon it which will render it valid. State v. Clement Nat. Bank, 84 Vt. 167, 200, 78 Atl. 944, Ann. Cas. 1912D, 22....’
Id. at 182. See also Godbold v. Manibog, 36 Haw. 206, 217 (1942).
From my reading of the provisions in question, I am convinced a reasonable construction could have been placed upon them to attain the remedy sought by plaintiff-appellant without emasculating the No-Fault Law.

 The decision invalidates HRS § 294-6(a)(2), reading:
(a) Tort liability of the owner, operator or user of an insured motor vehicle, or the operator or user of an uninsured motor vehicle who operates or uses such vehicle without reason to believe it to be an uninsured motor vehicle, with respect to accidental harm arising from motor vehicle accidents occurring in this State, is abolished, except as to the following persons or their personal representatives, or legal guardians, and in the following circumstances:
(2) Injury occurs to such person in a motor vehicle accident in which the amount paid or accrued exceeds the medical-rehabilitative limit established in section 294-10(b) for expenses provided in section 294-2(10)(A) and (B).
and HRS § 294-36(b)(2), reading:
(b) No suit arising out of a motor vehicle accident shall be brought in tort more than:
(2) Two years after the date of the last payment of no-fault or optional additional benefits; whichever is the later,
as the subsections apply to persons ineligible for no-fault benefits.