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Gambrel v. Marriott Hotel8/15/1991
issue can be first raised on appeal).
Claimant's specific argument is that the Act, by its exclusive remedy provisions, limits her right of access to the courts solely to Section 52-1-46. She contends that Section 52-1-46 violates equal protection guarantees by creating two classes of surviving dependents: the dependents of a worker who died within two years following the date of the worker's accidental injury , and the dependents of a worker who died beyond the period of two years following the date of the worker's accidental injury. Dependents falling into the first classification, i.e., where the worker dies within two years of his accidental injury, are provided the right to obtain minimal financial security through the Act. Dependents falling into the second classification, i.e., where the worker lives for a period in excess of two years following his date of accidental injury and then dies as a result of the injury, are denied all rights to obtain minimal financial security.
This court has previously upheld, under the rational basis test, the constitutionality of certain of the exclusive remedy provisions of the Act. See ) (remedy provisions for nondependent survivors, which classified nondependent survivors of workers differently than survivors of tort victims fatally injured outside the Act, were rationally related to Act's purposes so as to survive equal protection guarantees); ) (amount of disability benefits provided by the Act had reasonable relation to economic purpose of Act); cf. Montez v. J & B Radiator, Inc. (court did not determine whether Act could survive scrutiny, as Act did not create two separate classifications subject to different treatment). This court has also upheld, under rational basis review, equal protection challenges to the medical malpractice limitation period. See Kern By & Through Kern v. St. Joseph Hosp.; .
Employer, citing Casillas v. S.W.I.G. and cases from other jurisdictions, argues that this court should apply the rational basis test to hold Section 52-1-46 constitutional. Claimant contends that the particular class affected, dependent survivors of injured workers who fall within the provisions of the Act and die more than two years after the accident, warrant a heightened standard of review. See (applying heightened scrutiny, determined that damage cap on liability of dramshop owners violated equal protection clause); (applied heightened scrutiny to damage cap on City's liability under Tort Claims Act to determine whether it violated equal protection; remanded for fact-finding). Notably, Casillas v. S.W.I.G. and other New Mexico cases upholding the constitutionality of statutes pursuant to equal protection challenges were decided before Richardson, which first applied heightened scrutiny to invalidate a statutory enactment under the New Mexico Constitution.
Richardson and Trujillo arguably support applying heightened scrutiny to Section 52-1-46. However, if the statute is unconstitutional under the rational basis test, then it would be unnecessary to review it under heightened scrutiny.
Arguably, this court could find the statute unconstitutional under the rational basis test. That test requires the proponent of the unconstitutionality of a statute to show "that the law at issue treats like-situated persons unequally on the basis of a classification scheme unrelated to some real distinction, or that the legislation lacks a reasonable relationship to a legitimate government purpose." (citing Richardson). Applying that test, other jurisdictions have found provisions of workers' compensation statutes unconstituti
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