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Kirkland v. Blaine County Medical Center6/29/2000
damages shall not apply to: (a) Causes of action arising out of willful or reckless misconduct. (b) Causes of action arising out of an act or acts which the trier of fact finds beyond a reasonable doubt would constitute a felony under state or federal law. I.C. § 6-1603 (1998).
If applied to this case, I.C. § 6-1603 would limit Bryce Kirkland's recovery of non-economic damages against WRMC to approximately $573,000, instead of the $3,750,000 award by the jury. Because the jury specifically found Dr. Donald to have acted recklessly, the cap on non-economic damages found in I.C. § 6-1603 would not apply to limit his liability to the Kirklands. In the federal district court, the Kirklands argued I.C. § 6-1603 is unconstitutional as (1) a violation of the right to jury trial; (2) special legislation; (3) a violation of the separation of powers doctrine; and (4) as a violation of due process. After briefing and argument, the federal district judge agreed to certify the first three questions of Idaho constitutional law to this Court regarding the validity of I.C. § 6-1603. We accepted certification and now answer.
III. STANDARD OF REVIEW
Federal courts may certify in writing to this Court a question of law asking for a declaratory judgment or decree adjudicating the Idaho law on such a question if the certified question is a controlling question of law and there is no controlling precedent in the decisions of this Court. I.A.R. 12.1. This case requires this Court to decide the constitutionality of I.C. § 6-1603. The constitutionality of a statute is a question of law over which this Court exercises free review. Meisner v. Potlatch Co., 131 Idaho 258, 260, 954 P.2d 676, 678 (1998); Harris v. State, Dept. of Health and Welfare, 123 Idaho 295, 297, 847 P.2d 1156, 1158 (1992).
IV. DISCUSSION
A. Idaho Code § 6-1603 does not violate the right to jury trial.
The Kirklands argue I.C. § 6-1603 violates the right to jury trial as guaranteed by Article I, § 7 of the Idaho Constitution because it denies plaintiffs the right to have a jury determine the amount of non-economic damages incurred by tort victims. Article I, § 7 of the Idaho Constitution provides:
The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate; but in civil actions, three-fourths of the jury may render a verdict, and the legislature may provide that in all cases of misdemeanors five-sixths of the jury may render a verdict. A trial by jury may be waived in all criminal cases, by the consent of all parties, expressed in open court, and in civil actions by the consent of the parties, signified in such manner as may be prescribed by law. In civil actions the jury may consist of twelve or any number less than twelve upon which the parties may agree in open court. Provided, that in cases of misdemeanor and in civil actions within the jurisdiction of any court inferior to the district court, whether such case or action be tried in such inferior court or in district court, the jury shall consist of not more than six.
IDAHO CONST. art. I, § 7. In State v. Bennion, 112 Idaho 32, 730 P.2d 952 (1986), we noted this Court "long and often has stated that Article 1, § 7 preserves the right to jury trial as it existed at the common law and under the territorial statutes when the Idaho Constitution was adopted." Bennion, 112 Idaho at 37, 730 P.2d at 957. This standard "embodies the common sense notion that, by employing the phrase 'shall remain inviolate,' the Framers must have intended to perpetuate the right as it existed in 1890." Id. In Idaho Dept. of Law Enforcement v. Free, 126 Idaho 422, 885 P.2d 381 (1994), this Court reiterated the principles embodied in Bennion. Free involv
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