Floyd v. Gray

657 S.W.2d 936, 1983 Ky. LEXIS 273
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 31, 1983
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 657 S.W.2d 936 (Floyd v. Gray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Floyd v. Gray, 657 S.W.2d 936, 1983 Ky. LEXIS 273 (Ky. 1983).

Opinions

STEPHENS, Chief Justice.

The major issue we decide on this appeal is whether the statutory tort of loss of consortium is within the purview of the Motor Vehicle Reparations Act thus making the two year statute of limitations therein applicable. The Court of Appeals answered the question in the affirmative. We disagree, and reverse that part of the opinion. In all other respects, we affirm.

This appeal arises from a judgment of the Union Circuit Court in which a jury returned a verdict for the respondent Thomas Gray, against the movants Lewis Floyd and Hartford Bakery, Inc., in the amount of $31,308.22, and a verdict for respondent Ruby A. Gray, in the amount of $50,000. On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment. We granted discretionary review.

This case arose from a collision which occurred on a snow covered road in Union County on February 19, 1979. Movant Floyd, an employee of Hartford Bakery, Inc., was making a regular bread delivery in a company owned truck. Floyd was proceeding eastward on a two-lane road, toward a grocery store. The road is relatively straight, and descends into a slough, and then ascends to the grocery. Floyd was traveling between 35 and 40 miles per hour, when he noticed a bank of fog covering the road at the slough. He could see the roadway beyond the fog on the other side of the slough, and no vehicles were visible. Upon entering the fog, Floyd saw Thomas Gray’s car, also headed eastward stopped in his [938]*938traffic lane. He attempted to stop the truck, but was unable to do so and crashed into the back of Gray’s vehicle. On April 17, 1979, Gray, who was in his car at the time of the accident instituted this action against movants, for personal injuries. Floyd subsequently counterclaimed for his injuries and damages. On May 2, 1980, nearly fifteen (15) months after the accident, the trial court permitted an amendment to the complaint so that Gray’s wife, Ruby, could intervene and assert a claim for loss of consortium. The trial court denied movant’s claim that the one year statute of limitations barred the wife’s claim.

Movants urge six alleged errors: (1) that the claim of the intervening movant, Ruby Gray, for loss of consortium is barred by the one year statute of limitations; (2) that the trial court erred in permitting the filing of the amended complaint in violation of CR 24; (3) that the damages rendered for loss of consortium were excessive; (4) that the respondent, Thomas A. Gray, was contribu-torily negligent as a matter of law; (5) that there was no causative negligence on the part of movant, Lewis Floyd; (6) that the trial court erred in giving the jury unnecessary and prejudicial instructions.

Movant’s first contention is that the claim of the intervening movant, Ruby Gray, for loss of consortium is barred by the one year statute of limitations. We agree and reverse the Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision that the wife’s claim for a loss of consortium was subject to the two year statute of limitations set out in the MYRA rather than the one year statute of limitations set out in KRS 413.140.

Relying on the case of Tucker v. Johnson, Ky.App., 619 S.W.2d 496, 497 (1981), the Court of Appeals reasoned that the two year statute of limitations in the MVRA was enacted to provide a limitation for those actions involving motor vehicle accidents which would fall within the parameters of No Fault benefit except for the fact that the statutory thresholds have been exceeded, thereby making tort recovery possible. The Court felt that a claim for loss of consortium is “akin” to a claim for replacement services under the No Fault statute, and therefore the tort was within the aegis of the MVRA. Since Mrs. Gray’s damages exceeded the statutory thresholds, the court held that the two year statute of limitations was applicable.

We agree with the Court of Appeals that KRS 304.39-230(6) provides a statute of limitations for those actions involving motor vehicle collisions which fall within the purview of No-Fault benefit recovery which have met or exceeded the statutory thresholds of KRS 304.39-060(2). However, we disagree that an action for loss of consortium falls within the perimeters of MVRA benefit recovery or that a claim for loss of consortium is “akin” to a claim for replacement services loss under the MVRA.

Loss of consortium is an independent cause of action authorized by KRS 411.145(2). A wife or husband may recover from a third party whose negligence or wrongful act resulted in the loss of “services, assistance, aid, society, companionship, and conjugal relationship between husband and wife, or wife and husband.” KRS 411.-145. An action for loss of consortium is required to be brought within one year after the injury. KRS 413.140(a).

The claim of the intervening plaintiff, Ruby A. Gray, for loss of consortium is barred by the one year statute of limitations because the claim was brought nearly fifteen (15) months after the injury. Therefore the trial court erred when it permitted the intervening complaint for loss of consortium.

Loss of consortium is not a recoverable injury within the purview of the MVRA. Under the MVRA, the injured party’s right of recovery is his entitlement to basic reparation benefits without proof of fault. Fann v. McGuffey, Ky., 534 S.W.2d 770, 773 (1975). Personal injury in the na[939]*939ture of “pain, suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience because of bodily injury, sickness or disease arising out of ownership, maintenance, operation or use of a motor vehicle” may be recovered provided the statutory thresholds are met or exceeded. KRS 304.39-060(2)(b). Those thresholds require that the injury must result in medical expenses in excess of $1,000.00 or a permanent disfigurement, fracture of a weight bearing bone or permanent injury or death. Id. An action for such tort liability must be instituted within the two year period after the injury, or death or the last payment of a reparation whichever occurs later. KRS 304.39-230(6).

The two year statute of limitations set forth in the MVRA applies only to those actions within the purview of the statute. Not all actions arising out of motor vehicle collisions are covered by the MVRA and its two year statute of limitations. See, Gray v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Ky.App., 605 S.W.2d 775 (1980).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

T & J Land Co., LLC v. Dakota Miller
Kentucky Supreme Court, 2024
Scotty Halsey v. Holbrook Implement Co., LLC
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2023
Dakota Miller v. T & J Land Co., LLC
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2023
Estate of Charles G. Howard v. State Farm Insurance
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2022
Walden v. Pryor
W.D. Kentucky, 2019
West v. Huxol
135 F. Supp. 3d 590 (W.D. Kentucky, 2015)
Burgett v. Troy-Bilt LLC
970 F. Supp. 2d 676 (E.D. Kentucky, 2013)
Hammers v. Plunk
374 S.W.3d 324 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2011)
Bradford v. Bracken County
767 F. Supp. 2d 740 (E.D. Kentucky, 2011)
Cromwell Louisville Associates, Ltd. Partnership v. Commonwealth
323 S.W.3d 1 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2010)
Commonwealth Ex Rel. Conway v. Thompson
300 S.W.3d 152 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2010)
American Premier Insurance Co. v. McBride
159 S.W.3d 342 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2004)
Hardin v. Action Graphics, Inc.
57 S.W.3d 844 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2001)
Crime Fighters Patrol v. Hiles
740 S.W.2d 936 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1987)
Troxell v. Trammell
730 S.W.2d 525 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1987)
Moore v. State Farm Mutual Insurance Co.
710 S.W.2d 225 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1986)
Department of Education v. Blevins
707 S.W.2d 782 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
657 S.W.2d 936, 1983 Ky. LEXIS 273, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/floyd-v-gray-ky-1983.