[DOWNLOAD] "Anna Leigh Stucki Et Al. v. Alan S." by Supreme Court of Idaho No. 10773 ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Anna Leigh Stucki Et Al. v. Alan S.
- Author : Supreme Court of Idaho No. 10773
- Release Date : January 06, 1972
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 59 KB
Description
In 1968 an automobile collision claimed the life of Mary Ann Stucki. Mrs. Stucki's minor children, by their grandfather and
guardian ad litem, brought a wrongful death action, authorized by I.C. § 5-311,[Footnote 1] against Carrie Loveland
Smith.[Footnote 2] When Mrs. Smith died during pendency of the action, the present respondent, administrator of her estate,
was substituted pursuant to I.C. § 5-327.[Footnote 3] The jury eventually found for the plaintiffs and judgment
was entered for $10,000 after the trial court reduced a higher jury award, pursuant to the damage limitation provision of
I.C. § 5-327.[Footnote 4] On appeal, plaintiffs challenge the court's construction of the statute, and submit that
the damage limitation provision violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United
States Constitution. Because respondent did not cross appeal, the merits of the wrongful death action are not before us. We are unable to construe the statute to avoid the constitutional issue.[Footnote 5] Appellants suggest we apply the $10,000
limitation to each child individually as a "person injured" rather than limiting total damages to $10,000. But the limitation
applies to "each person injured or killed," and preceding language vests the cause of action in "each injured person or the
personal representative of each one meeting death " (emphasis supplied). "Injured person" in this statute clearly refers to
the victim of the tort, not to each of her children. Appellants' interpretation would emasculate the phrases "or killed" and
"or the personal representative of each meeting death," violating the fundamental rule, that language of a statute must be
construed, if possible, to give force and effect to every part thereof.[Footnote 6] Compliance with that rule precludes the
suggested construction and compels us to reach the constitutional issue.