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Shiv-Ram12/30/2003
etcher:
"Repeal by implication is admittedly not a favored rule of statutory construction, but in State v. Bay Towing and Dredging Company, 265 Ala. 282, 289, 90 So. 2d 743, 749 (1956), we find:
"'In Alabama, the law governing implied repeals is well-settled and the cases on this point are singularly consistent. See 18 Ala. Dig., Statutes, Key 159 & 160. A concise statement of the rule is contained in City of Birmingham v. Southern Express Co., 164 Ala. 529, 538, 51 So. 159, 162 [(1909)]:
"'"Repeal by implication is not favored. It is only when two laws are so repugnant to or in conflict with each other that it must be presumed that the Legislature intended that the latter should repeal the former. ..."
"'Implied repeal is essentially a question of determining the legislative intent as expressed in the statutes. Ex parte Jones, 212 Ala. 259, 260, 102 So. 234 [(1924)]. When the provisions of two statutes are directly repugnant and cannot be reconciled, it must be presumed that the legislature intended an implied repeal, and the later statute prevails as the last expression of the legislative will. Union Central Life Insurance Co. v. State, 226 Ala. 420, 423, 147 So. 187 [(1933)]; Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland v. Farmers' Hardware Co., 223 Ala. 477, 479, 136 So. 824 [(1931)].'"
As noted, section 1 of Act No. 99-358, which enacted new § 6-11-21, states: "Section 6-11-21, Code of Alabama 1975, is amended to read as follows." As also already noted, this Court stated in Allgood, 196 Ala. at 501, 71 So. at 724, and again in Mitchell, 235 Ala. at 36, 177 So. at 153:
"... 'Generally speaking, where a statute is amended "so as to read as follows," the amendatory act becomes a substitute for the original, which then ceases to have the force and effect of an independent enactment ... that so much of the act as is omitted is repealed.'"
(Emphasis supplied.) Although section 4 of Act No. 99-358 provided that the new § 6-11-21 applied to actions commenced 61 days after the effective date, section 5 provided that the Act became effective immediately upon its passage and final approval by the governor. As of the effective date of the Act, former § 6-11-21 was invalidated. That no statutorily imposed punitive-damages cap was in place from either the June 7, 1999, effective date, until 61 days later presents no anomaly; the Legislature would have understood that the punitive-damages cap of former § 6-11-21 was not in effect, given this Court's opinion in Henderson approximately six years earlier. This Court noted in Wright v. Turner, 351 So. 2d 1, 4 (Ala. 1977),
"the long-standing maxim of statutory construction that a reviewing court is bound to presume that the legislature, when amending a statute, was aware of the judicial construction placed upon it and that, absent indications of intent to the contrary, the legislature did not see fit to change such judicial construction in the court of the amendment."
See also Ex parte Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Bd., 683 So. 2d 952, 956 (Ala. 1996).
Accordingly, former § 6-11-21 would not be revived even if we overruled Henderson, and we, therefore, have no occasion to address that possibility further in this case.
II. Clear and Convincing Evidence of Wanton Conduct
Shiv-Ram contends that the trial court erred in finding that Linda presented clear and convincing evidence of wantonness as required by Ala. Code 1975, § 6-11-20 and in denying its judgment as a matter of law as to punitive damages. "'An appellate court, when reviewing a ruling on a motion for a judgment as a matter of law, uses the same standard the
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