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Parks v. Utah Transit Authority6/14/2002
he life of their son. They recognize that this court upheld the constitutionality of section 63-30-4(4) against a constitutional challenge under article I, section 11 in Payne v. Myers, 743 P.2d 186, 190 (Utah 1987). In that case, we upheld the constitutionality of that statute because while it prohibited the plaintiffs from suing the employees of the State, the Governmental Immunity Act waived the immunity of the State and allowed the plaintiffs to recover against the State for the negligence of the State's employees. Id. It is true, as pointed out by the plaintiffs in this case, that this court did not there discuss the reality that any recovery against the State would be subject to the damage caps, whereas in a suit against state employees there would not be that limitation on damages.
This issue was raised and decided in Lyon v. Burton, 2000 UT 19, 5 P.3d 616. In a split decision, this court upheld the constitutionality of section 63-30-4(4) even though the legislature had replaced the right to sue a state employee for unlimited damages with the right to sue the state for damages, albeit the damages recoverable were subject to the damage cap. Id. at 44-50. We decline to reconsider that decision now.
V. CONSTRUCTION OF SECTION 63-30-34
The plaintiffs contend that each of them was damaged by the wrongful death of their son, and thus each are entitled to $250,000 in damages. Section 63-30-34(1) provides:
(a) Except as provided in Subsections (2) and (3), if a judgment for damages for personal injury against a governmental entity . . . exceeds $250,000 for one person in any one occurrence, or $500,000 for two or more persons in any one occurrence, the court shall reduce the judgment to that amount.
(b) A court may not award judgment of more than $250,000 for injury or death to one person regardless of whether or not the function giving rise to the injury is characterized as governmental. Utah Code Ann. ยง 63-30-34(1)(1999).
The trial court determined that the legislature, in enacting section 63-30-34(1)(b) intended to "limit the amount of recovery for the death of any one person to the amount of $250,000, regardless of the number of people who were damaged as a result of the death." In reviewing that conclusion, we presume that the legislature used each word advisedly, and we give effect to each word according to its commonly accepted meaning. Versluis v. Guar. Nat'l Cos., 842 P.2d 865, 867 (Utah 1992).
Subsection 63-30-34(1)(a) states that "if a judgment . . . exceeds $250,000 for one person in any one occurrence, or $500,000 for two or more persons in any one occurrence," the court shall reduce the judgment to that amount. (Emphasis added.) The meaning of that subsection is not entirely clear and arguably could be read to support the plaintiffs' contention if the words "$250,000 for one person" means one person (such as a plaintiff) who is entitled to recover and "$500,000 for two or more persons" means two or more persons who are entitled to recover. However, when subsection 1(b) is considered, that ambiguity is cleared up because the "one person" referred to there clearly means the person who has been subjected to injury or death. It specifically limits judgments to "$250,000 for injury or death to one person." (Emphasis added.) Subsection (1)(b) was added in 1991 as a legislative amendment and makes clear that when one person suffers injury or death, only $250,000 may be awarded irrespective of the number of persons who have been damaged because of the injury or death.
CONCLUSION
Judgment affirmed.
Chief Justice Durham, Associate Chief Justice Durrant, Justice Russ
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