Fust v. Attorney General for the State of Mo., 79416

Citation947 S.W.2d 424
Decision Date17 June 1997
Docket NumberNo. 79416,79416
PartiesCarl FUST and Rita Fust, Appellants, v. ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR THE STATE OF MISSOURI, Respondent.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Missouri

Alan G. Kimbrell, Richard C. Witzel, David A. Dimmitt, St. Louis, for Appellants.

Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Attorney General, John R. Munich, Deputy Attorney General, Gary L. Gardner, Assistant Attorney General, Jefferson City, for Respondent.

HOLSTEIN, Chief Justice.

Carl and Rita Fust are judgment creditors. They were awarded $330,000 in punitive damages in a malicious prosecution action in 1994. This judgment was affirmed on appeal. Fust v. Francois, 913 S.W.2d 38 (Mo.App.1995). Here, the Fusts seek a declaratory judgment that sec. 537.675 1, enacted as part of House Bill 700, Laws of 1987, p. 545, et seq. (HB 700), is unconstitutional. That section provides that 50% of any punitive damages judgment is deemed rendered in favor of the State of Missouri. The Circuit Court of Cole County found the statute constitutional. This Court has jurisdiction of the appeal. Mo. Const. art. V, sec. 3. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

I.

Missouri Constitution art. III, sec. 23, states: "No bill shall contain more than one subject which shall be clearly expressed in its title." The title of HB 700 states that it was enacted "to repeal sections [thereafter listed], and to enact in lieu thereof fifty-one new sections for the purpose of assuring just compensation for certain person's damages...." Section 40 of HB 700, codified at sec. 537.675, establishes the "tort victims' compensation fund." It provides:

1. There is created the "Tort Victims' Compensation Fund". Unexpended moneys in the fund shall not lapse at the end of the biennium as provided in section 33.080, RSMo.

2. Fifty percent of any final judgment awarding punitive damages after the deduction of attorneys' fees and expenses shall be deemed rendered in favor of the state of Missouri. The circuit clerks shall notify the attorney general of any final judgment awarding punitive damages rendered in their circuits. With respect to such fifty percent, the attorney general shall collect upon such judgment and may execute or make settlements with respect thereto as he deems appropriate for deposit into the fund.

3. The state of Missouri shall have no interest in or right to intervene at any stage of any judicial proceeding under this section.

4. No disbursement shall be made from the tort victims' compensation fund until procedures for disbursement are established by further action of the general assembly.

The Fusts make a two-pronged constitutional attack on HB 700 under article III, sec. 23, claiming that it contains more than one subject and that the subject matter of sec. 40 was not contained in the bill's title.

The Fusts have the burden of proving the statute's unconstitutionality. Westin Crown Plaza Hotel Co. v. King, 664 S.W.2d 2, 5 (Mo. banc 1984). Their burden here is substantial.

Attacks against legislative action founded on constitutionally imposed procedural limitations are not favored.... [T]his Court interprets procedural limitations liberally and will uphold the constitutionality of a statute against such an attack unless the act clearly and undoubtedly violates the constitutional limitation.

Hammerschmidt v. Boone County, 877 S.W.2d 98, 102 (Mo. banc 1994). The dispositive question in determining whether a bill contains more than one subject is "whether all provisions of the bill fairly relate to the same subject, have a natural connection therewith, or are incidents or means to accomplish its purpose." Akin v. Dir. of Revenue, 934 S.W.2d 295, 301 (Mo. banc 1996).

Appellants argue that HB 700 could not have one subject because this bill has numerous components: provisions relating to regulation of liability insurance carriers; provisions modifying tort liability for manufacturers; a provision relating to pre-judgment interest; provisions relating to the procedure in the trials involving cases of punitive damages; and a provision that establishes the tort victims' compensation fund.

However, the single subject test is not whether individual provisions of a bill relate to each other. The constitutional test focuses on the subject set out in the title. We judge whether a particular provision violates the single subject rule by examining the individual provision under consideration to determine if it fairly relates to the subject described in the title of the bill, has a natural connection to the subject, or is a means to accomplish the law's purpose.

All sections of this particular bill purport to do the same thing--promote compensation for certain tort victims. Unquestionably, this object may be accomplished by multiple means. First, it may be accomplished by regulating the liability insurance industry. Second, the purpose may be accomplished by the statutory modification of common law rules involving tort liability. Third, it may be accomplished by creating a fund for tort victims who otherwise would be uncompensated.

At no point in appellants' argument do they suggest that the regulation of the State's liability insurance industry, modification of our tort law, and creation of a fund for uncompensated tort victims are unrelated to assuring just compensation for a certain person's damages. Indeed, it is difficult to argue that the three classes of statutes are not closely related to just compensation of individuals who sustain damages to their property or person. The topics are not only naturally and reasonably related to the bill's stated subject but are inextricably intertwined as elements of our tort liability system.

There is no claim here that this bill was significantly amended during its progress through the legislature so as to change its original purpose. Neither will this Court speculate that some legislators were unfamiliar with the purpose or details of the bill or that news media would have had difficulty summarizing the bill because of its technical detail. The dispositive question is whether all provisions fairly relate to the same subject expressed in the title of the bill. It is sufficient to say that appellants have not sustained their burden of proving the unconstitutionality of HB 700 on the basis that it contains more than one subject.

A.

Article III, sec. 23 also requires that the subject be "clearly expressed" in a bill's title. This provision may be violated in two ways. First, the subject may be so general or amorphous as to violate the single subject requirement. See Hammerschmidt, 877 S.W.2d at 102 n. 3. Second, the subject may be so restrictive that a particular provision is rejected because it falls outside the scope of the subject. See Carmack v. Dir., Missouri Dept. of Agriculture, 945 S.W.2d 956 (Mo. banc 1997) (bill on "economic development" cannot include livestock indemnification provisions). The point relied on and argument focus on a claim that the title is too restrictive to permit a provision touching on punitive damages.

The essence of the Fusts' argument is that because the words "punitive damages" and "tort" do not appear in the title and the words "just compensation" do appear in the title, the title of HB 700 is too restrictive to permit any particular provision touching on punitive damages for tort. As with other constitutional challenges, the one asserting the unconstitutionality of the statute has the burden of showing the constitutional procedural limitation has "clearly and undoubtedly" been contravened. Carmack, 945 S.W.2d at 959; Lincoln Credit Co. v. Peach, 636 S.W.2d 31, 39 (Mo. banc 1982).

The "clear title" provision, like the "single subject" restriction, was designed to prevent fraudulent, misleading, and improper legislation, by providing that the title should indicate in a general way the kind of legislation that was being enacted. Vice v. City of Kirksville, 280 Mo. 348, 358, 217 S.W. 77, 79 (1920). If the title of a bill contains a particular limitation or restriction, a provision that goes beyond the limitation in the title is invalid because such title affirmatively misleads the reader. Hunt v. Armour & Co., 345 Mo. 677, 679-80, 136 S.W.2d 312, 314 (1940).

Appellants assert that because certain sections involving insurance, interest, or pleadings were repealed, and "in lieu thereof," fifty-one new provisions were enacted, that the subject of the bill is limited to insurance, interest and pleadings. This argument would require us to ignore the stated purpose of the enactment of the fifty-one new sections: to assure "just compensation for certain person's damages." The words "in lieu thereof" do not restrict. They simply inform the reader what is being substituted for the repealed provisions and introduce a statement as to why the substitution is being made.

A reasonable person reading the title would understand that the bill relates to "certain persons" who have sustained "damages." Nothing in the title restricts the subject to persons who sustained actual but not punitive damages. The title of the bill also puts the reasonable reader on notice that the act relates to "assuring just compensation" for damages. But the words "just compensation" are not so restrictive a term of art as to mean the bill excludes reference to tort cases where the plaintiff seeks both compensatory and punitive damages, as suggested by appellants.

It is true that assuring payment of compensatory damages is the purpose of the bill. To that end, sec. 537.675 creates a tort victims' compensation fund. It is hard to imagine a provision more closely and naturally related to the topic of assuring just compensation for damages to persons than one creating a fund to pay otherwise uncompensated tort victims. Merely because that fund is generated by money collected in cases where plaintiffs obtained a judgment for more than was necessary to justly compensate them for their injuries does not mean the provision...

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