Robinson Ex Rel. Coe v. Kolstad

267 N.W.2d 886, 84 Wis. 2d 579, 1978 Wisc. LEXIS 1102
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedJune 30, 1978
Docket77-351
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 267 N.W.2d 886 (Robinson Ex Rel. Coe v. Kolstad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Robinson Ex Rel. Coe v. Kolstad, 267 N.W.2d 886, 84 Wis. 2d 579, 1978 Wisc. LEXIS 1102 (Wis. 1978).

Opinions

CONNOR T. HANSEN, J.

The facts alleged, and assumed to be true for purposes of the motion to dismiss, are substantially as follows:

The decedent, Keith Larson, kept steady company with the plaintiff’s mother, Susan Robinson Taft, nee Robinson, for more than a year prior to his death. They planned to be married when Larson reached majority on March 29, 1973, and Larson had asked a friend to be the best man at the wedding.

On October 13, 1972, Susan Taft became eighteen years old. She had spent the night at Larson’s home on several occasions previously, and after her eighteenth birthday spent every night with him. She had sexual relations with Larson and with no other man.

Taft soon suspected she was pregnant. On October 27, 1972, Larson drove her to a doctor, who administered a [581]*581pregnancy test which was paid for by Larson. The doctor informed Taft that she was pregnant, and she told him she planned to marry soon.

Larson did not question that he was the father of the child. He planned to marry Taft as soon as his mother would consent; if she denied consent, he planned to be married when he reached majority. He and Taft told friends that he would be the child’s father and that he and Taft were to be married.

Two days after Taft learned she was pregnant, on October 29, 1972, Larson was killed in a collision involving a pickup truck driven by defendant-Kolstad. The complaint alleges the collision was the result of Kolstad’s negligence.

The plaintiff, Eric Robinson, was born June 16, 1973.

On August 3, 1973, Larson’s mother, a recognized lineal heir under the Wisconsin statutes, commenced a wrongful death action against the defendants. On July 15, 1974, that action was dismissed upon stipulation of the parties and upon payment by the defendant, Allstate Insurance Company, of $7,654.81 in settlement of the wrongful death claim.

On December 30, 1976, the instant action was commenced.

This appeal concerns the narrow question of whether a posthumous illegitimate child may maintain an action for the death of his putative father under the wrongful death statutes. Secs. 895.01, 895.03 and 895.04, Stats.1

In defining the party-plaintiffs in a wrongful death action, sec. 895.04(2), Stats., provides that the amount recovered in such action belongs “. . . to the deceased’s [582]*582lineal heirs as determined by s. 852.01 . . .” if there is no surviving spouse.

In Krantz v. Harris, 40 Wis.2d 709, 162 N.W.2d 628 (1968), this court held that a decedent’s “lineal heirs” are to be determined, in the case of an illegitimate child, by the provisions of sec. 237.06, Stats. 1967, now sec. 852.05 (1). That section provides:

“852.05 Status of illegitimate person for purposes of intestate succession. (1) An illegitimate child or his issue is entitled to take in the same manner as a legitimate child by intestate succession from and through (a) his mother, and (b) his father if the father has either been adjudicated to be such under ss. 52.21 to 52.45, or has admitted in open court that he is the father, or has acknowledged himself to be the father in writing signed by him.”

The attorney general has filed a brief amicus curiae urging that sec. 852.05(1) and ch. 52, Stats., be construed to permit the commencement of a paternity proceeding after the death of the putative father. This question was considered in the consolidated appeals of In re Estate of Blumreich and Caldwell v. Estate of Blumreich, ante, p. 545, 267 N.W.2d 870 (1978).

The Blumreich Cases, supra, held that a posthumous paternity proceeding would be contrary to the provisions of eh. 52 and the holding of this court in Krantz v. Harris, supra, and inconsistent with the policy determinations of the legislative enactments. The Blumreich holding is controlling on this issue and requires the rejection of the argument that ch. 52 should be construed to permit a posthumous paternity proceeding.

In Re Estate of Blumreich and Caldwell v. Estate of Blumreich, supra, also presented the question of whether the Wisconsin Wrongful Death Act and sec. 852.05(1), Stats., deny equal protection or due process of law. Those [583]*583cases involved an illegitimate child born after the death of his putative father. The child sought to commence an action for the wrongful death of the putative father and to inherit from his estate, but was unable to satisfy the requirements of sec. 852.05(1), Stats. This court rejected the argument that those requirements deny after-born illegitimates equal protection or due process of law. That holding is dispositive of this issue on this appeal.

Sec. 852.05(1), Stats., prescribes reasonable means of proof of paternity for illegitimate children. There is no separate statutory classification for children born out of wedlock. Under no construction of the statutes can it be said that there is a statutory disinheritance of illegitimate children. In addition to the legitimization of children by such procedures as subsequent marriage of the parents and adoption, sec. 852.05(3), paternity may be shown by an adjudication in paternity proceedings, by oral or written admissions of the father in open court, or by acknowledgment in writing signed by the putative father without a witness. The only types of proof excluded by the statutes are oral admissions outside of court or unsigned written acknowledgments. Sound policy reasons for these legislative exclusions are readily apparent.

The constitutional provisions, both state and federal, for the protection of individuals, involve difficult questions of balancing, and the particular facts in the instant case make it especially so. However, every law enacted, unless it applies to all persons at all times and in all places, inevitably affects some and does not affect others.

If it could be said that the legislative enactment categorically disinherited posthumous illegitimate children, the argument of denial of equal protection under either the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution or art. I, sec. 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution [584]*584would rise to a different dimension.2 We do not believe the classifications reflected in the statutes under consideration are proscribed by either state or federal constitutional provisions. The statutes accord illegitimate children the same rights accorded children born in wedlock, provided only that they establish their parentage in a manner recognized by the statutes. In prescribing reasonable methods of proving parentage, the statutes serve legitimate legislative purposes.

The fact that the statutes do not alleviate all difficulties, or that they might have provided otherwise, does not ipso facto make them a denial of equal protection.

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Robinson Ex Rel. Coe v. Kolstad
267 N.W.2d 886 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1978)

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Bluebook (online)
267 N.W.2d 886, 84 Wis. 2d 579, 1978 Wisc. LEXIS 1102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robinson-ex-rel-coe-v-kolstad-wis-1978.