Nodine v. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Corp.

Summary

The Wyoming Supreme Court reversed the dismissal of Christine Nodine’s wrongful death action against Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Corporation. The court held that its intervening decision in Estate of Johnson, which addressed appointment of a wrongful-death personal representative, applied prospectively only and could not retroactively impose a new procedural requirement on Nodine’s previously accrued and timely filed claim. The court also concluded that retroactive application would cause substantial inequity given the timing of the federal dismissal and the expiration of the two-year filing period.

Holdings

1. Estate of Johnson, 2010 WY 63, did not apply retroactively to an already-accrued wrongful death action that was filed before Johnson was decided.
2. Because Johnson did not apply retroactively, Nodine's appointment as personal representative by the Texas probate court did not deprive her of capacity to maintain the Wyoming wrongful death action.
3. The Supreme Court could consider the retroactivity issue because it presented a fundamental question akin to a jurisdictional issue.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Estate of Johnson applied retroactively to a wrongful death action that accrued and was initially filed before Johnson was decided.
2. Whether the plaintiff's appointment as personal representative by a Texas probate court was sufficient under the pre-Johnson law governing a Wyoming wrongful death action.
3. Whether the district court erred in dismissing the wrongful death action on the ground that the plaintiff had not obtained a Wyoming appointment before the statutory period expired.
4. Whether the Supreme Court could consider the retroactivity issue even though it was not raised below.

Disposition

reversed