State Ex Rel. Montana Citizens for the Preservation of Citizen's Rights v. Waltermire

738 P.2d 1255, 227 Mont. 85, 1987 Mont. LEXIS 884
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 22, 1987
Docket86-400
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 738 P.2d 1255 (State Ex Rel. Montana Citizens for the Preservation of Citizen's Rights v. Waltermire) 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
State Ex Rel. Montana Citizens for the Preservation of Citizen's Rights v. Waltermire, 738 P.2d 1255, 227 Mont. 85, 1987 Mont. LEXIS 884 (Mo. 1987).

Opinions

MR. JUSTICE SHEEHY

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Following canvass by the Board of State canvassers, respondent Secretary of State has filed in his office and certified to the Governor and the Executive Director of the Legislative Council, that Art. II, Sec. 16 of the Montana Constitution has been amended by initiative through the passage by the electorate of Constitutional Initiative No. 30 (CI-30) on November 4, 1986.

The language of the amendment to Article II, Section 16 as filed and certified by the Secretary of State is not the same language submitted to the electors for their vote on November 4, 1986. The difference in language is material. For that reason, principally, we determine in this original proceedings that the purported amendment of Article II, Section 16 is null and void. We further determine that publication of the proposed initiative measure prior to the election did not follow constitutional mandates.

The further proceedings in this action are in continuation of the original application filed by relators in this Court on August 28, 1986. The relators came to us asking for injunction to remove CI-30 from the November 4 ballot on several grounds. This Court declined to forestall the vote on the initiative. That portion of these proceed[87]*87ings is reported in (Mont. 1986), [224 Mont. 273,] 729 P.2d 1283, 43 St.Rep. 2191.

Following the election, relators filed herein on November 17, 1986 an amended application for injunction enjoining state officials from canvassing the votes cast, or from certifying that CI-30 was duly adopted. The amended application further asked for declaratory relief that CI-30 was unconstitutional, and that the election held on the initiative was unconstitutional and void. Issues were joined on the amended application, and oral argument followed on January 16, 1987. The Board of State Canvassers and the Secretary of State had already performed their official duties with respect to the the passage of CI-30 before oral argument occurred, and thus that portion of the application by relators for injunction is moot. Today we pass upon the validity of CI-30 as certified in light of the process by which it was submitted for approval by the electors.

For perspective, we give the background that spurred the supporters of CI-30 to seek its adoption. Article II, Section 16, of the State Constitution as adopted in 1972 provides:

“Section 16. The administration of justice. Courts of justice shall be open to every person, and speedy remedy afforded for injury of person, property, or character. No person shall be deprived of this full legal redress for injury incurred in employment for which another person may be liable except as to fellow employees and his immediate employer who hired him if such immediate employer provides coverage under the Workmen’s Compensation Laws of this state. Right and justice shall be administered without sale, denial, or delay.”

In 1983, the legislature promulgated a statute (Section 2-9-107, MCA) which limited the liability of the state government or local governments in tort cases to $300,000 for each claimant and $1,000,000 for each occurrence. The validity of the limitations was attacked on the grounds that they were facially and by application discriminatory in Pfost v. State (Mont. 1985), [219 Mont. 206,] 713 P.2d 495, 42 St.Rep. 1957. The State conceded that indeed the statute was discriminatory, but that the validity of the statute could be founded both on rationality and compelling state interest considerations. We had, however, held in White v. State of Montana (1983), 203 Mont. 363, 661 P.2d 1272, 40 St.Rep. 507, that the right to bring an action for personal injuries in Montana is a fundamental right and that any statutory impingement on that fundamental right must be measured by a “strict scrutiny” test in order to pass consti[88]*88tutional muster. In Pfost, the State sought to distinguish White, contending that while the right to sue for personal injury is a fundamental right, the right to recover damages is not, and that statutory limitations on the monetary recovery available to injured plaintiffs were valid. Under this contention, the clause in Article II, Section 16 loomed large that “no person shall be deprived of this full legal redress.” We said:

“The use of the clause ‘this full legal redress’ has major significance. It obviously and grammatically refers to the ‘speedy remedy afforded for injury of person, property, or character.’ The adjective ‘this’ means the person, being, or idea that is present or near in place, time or thought or that has just been mentioned. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1981).
“The constitutional framers thus construed a ‘speedy remedy’ as comprehending ‘full legal redress.’ A state constitutional right to full legal redress was thereby created. Any state statute that restricts, limits, or modifies full legal redress for injury to person, property, or character therefore affects a fundamental right and the state must show a compelling state interest if it is to sustain the constitutional validity of the statute.”

In Pfost, this Court found no compelling state interest and therefore held that the monetary limitations on damages contained in Section 2-9-107, MCA, were invalid.

After Pfost, it was clear that in order for the legislature to adopt a discriminatory limitation on tort damages without a compelling state interest, the adjective “full” would have to be removed from the constitutional provision in Article II, Section 16. That is precisely what the supporters of CI-30 set out to do. They circulated a petition for a constitutional amendment which would revise Article II, Section 16 to read as follows:

“Section 1. Article II, section 16, of the Constitution of the State of Montana is amended to read:
“Section 16. The administration of justice. (1) Courts of justice shall be open to every person, and speedy remedy afforded for every injury of person, property, or character. Right and justice shall be administered without sale, denial, or delay.
“(2) No person shall be deprived of thisTuH legal redress for injury incurred in employment for which another person may be liable except as to fellow employees and his immediate employer who hired him if such immediate employer provides coverage under the Work[89]*89men’s Compensation Laws of this state. Right and justice shall be administered without-sale,-denialr or delay.
“(3) This section shall not be construed as a limitation upon the authority of the legislature to enact statutes establishing, limiting, modifying, or abolishing remedies, claims for relief, damages, or allocations of responsibility for damages in any civil proceeding; except that any express dollar limits on compensatory damages for actual economic loss for bodily injury must be approved by a % vote of each house of the legislature.
“Section 2. Effective Date. This amendment is effective on approval of the electorate.” (Underlining denotes new material; strikeouts denote deletions.)

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Bluebook (online)
738 P.2d 1255, 227 Mont. 85, 1987 Mont. LEXIS 884, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-montana-citizens-for-the-preservation-of-citizens-rights-v-mont-1987.