Kuhnke v. Fisher

683 P.2d 916, 210 Mont. 114, 1984 Mont. LEXIS 916
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 24, 1984
Docket83-113
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 683 P.2d 916 (Kuhnke v. Fisher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kuhnke v. Fisher, 683 P.2d 916, 210 Mont. 114, 1984 Mont. LEXIS 916 (Mo. 1984).

Opinions

MR. JUSTICE SHEEHY

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

In this case the Gallatin County District Court Eighteenth Judicial District, granted summary judgment against a claim for the wrongful death of an unborn child. Judgment was entered on jury verdict against the plaintiff John Kuhnke on his claim that the death of his wife occurred through the malpractice of the defendant doctors and hospital. On Kuhnke’s appeal from both decisions we affirm the summary judgment against his claim for the death of the unborn child; and we reverse the judgment against the plaintiff on his claim for the wrongful death of the wife.

I.

Stated simply the first issue is whether the Montana courts may entertain an action for the claimed wrongful death of a fetus under our wrongful death statute. Plaintiff has stated the issue in terms of a “viable fetus.”

Annabelle Kuhnke, 8 months pregnant, was admitted to Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, on May 11, 1978. On May 12 she was pronounced dead in the hospital. Her unborn fetus died with her. John Kuhnke, the husband of Annabelle and the father of the unborn child, charges their deaths were the result of the professional failures of the hospital and of [117]*117Drs. John A. Fisher and Douglas A. Alvord. The District Court granted the pretrial motion of all defendants for summary judgment, dismissing the claim for recovery for the wrongful death of the fetus.

An action for the wrongful death of a fetus was unknown to the common law. Kuhnke must found his claim on the terms of Section 27-1-512, MCA, which states:

“27-1-512. Action by parent or guardian for injury to or death of child or ward. Either parent may maintain an action for the injury or death of a minor child and a guardian for injury or death of a ward when such injury or death is caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another ...”

The issue is not new although it is presented in this Court for the first time. By a ratio of better than 2 to 1, the majority of states have ruled in favor of permitting a wrongful death action on behalf of an unborn child. 84 A.L.R.3d 411 (1978). The division of courts is recognized in Restatement (Second) of Torts, Section 869, which follows:

“Section 869. Harm to an unborn child. (1) One who tortiously causes harm to an unborn child is subject to liability to the child for harm if the child is born alive.
“(2) If the child is not born alive, there is no liability unless the applicable wrongful death statute so provides.” (Emphasis added.)

As it sometimes occurs, among those states which have passed on the question differing conclusions have been reached as to whether “the applicable wrongful death statute so provides,” even though similar terms are used in the statutes. For example, California holds against such right of action, Justus v. Atchinson (1977), 19 Cal.3d 564, 565 P.2d 122, 139 Cal. Rptr. 97. The states of Washington and Idaho hold otherwise, recognizing such actions. Volk v. Baldazo (1982), 103 Idaho. 570, 651 P.2d 11; Moen v. Hanson (1975), 85 Wash. 597, P.2d 266.

In Justus, the California court referred to Section 377 of its Civil Code of Procedure which provides a wrongful death action for a “minor person.” The California Supreme [118]*118Court determined to focus not on the word “minor,” but on the word “person” to determine whether its legislature intended an unborn fetus to be included within the latter term. 565 P.2d at 130. The court then determined, relying essentially on Roe v. Wade (1973), 410 U.S. 113, 161, 93 S.Ct. 705, 731, 35 L.Ed.2d 147, that such an action is not permitted. In Roe, the Supreme Court found that the unborn have never been recognized in law as persons in the whole sense, for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment. The California court held that the legislature, adopting the statute providing for wrongful death action was creating an entirely new cause of action where none was thought to exist before, and intended to occupy the field of recovery for wrongful death. Therefore as a court, it could not enact a judge-made provision for such action.

In Moen, the Washington court considered the effect of its wrongful death statute which refers to a “minor child.” It concluded that a viable fetus was a “child,” and that the term “minor” was to mark the upper boundary of the parents’ potential cause of action. The Washington court was impressed with the hypothetical example in Stidam v. Ashmore (1959), 109 Ohio App. 431, 167 N.E.2d 106, involving twins wrongfully injured simultaneously in womb, one born alive and one stillborn. The Ohio court concluded that to allow recovery for only one of the twin victims is logically indefensible. Washington decided to follow the example of the majority states, including Oregon and Illinois in recognizing the cause of action. See, Libbee v. Permanente Clinic (1974), 268 Or. 258, 518 P.2d 636, 520 P.2d 361; Chrisafogeorgis v. Brandenberg (1973), 55 Ill.2d 368, 304 N.E.2d 88.

In Idaho, the wrongful death statute provides an action for a “minor child.” The Idaho Supreme Court examined this statute in Volk v. Baldazo (1982), 103 Idaho 570, 651 P.2d 11 and held that the term “minor child” marks the upper age limits beyond which the parents’ cause of action may not be extended, but that the term did not preclude a wrongful death action on behalf of a viable unborn fetus [119]*119which died of injuries and hence was never born alive. In reaching its decision, the Idaho court determined that in that state a cause of action would lie on behalf of a viable fetus which sustained prenatal injuries but was subsequently born alive. It concluded that if a viable fetus had survived the injuries and could pursue a cause of action on his or her own behalf for those injuries, a wrongful death action where the death of the fetus occurred through injury was not precluded where another statute provided that a child conceived but not yet born is an existing person whose interests can be protected. The Idaho court was impressed with the purpose of wrongful death statutes, to provide damages to those persons who are bereaved or suffer a loss by virtue of the death of the victim.

What the cases reflect is an honest difference of opinion among the state courts as to the effect to be given to nearly similar provisions. For example, in Justus, the California Supreme Court responded to Sections 25 and 26 of its Civil Code. Section 25 provided that “minors are all persons under 21 years of age.” Section 26 specified that “the periods specified in the preceding section must be calculated from the first minute of the day on which persons are born to the same minute of the corresponding day completing the period of minority.” The California Court of Appeal in Norman v. Murphy

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
683 P.2d 916, 210 Mont. 114, 1984 Mont. LEXIS 916, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kuhnke-v-fisher-mont-1984.