American Bank & Trust Co. v. Community Hospital

I respectfully dissent. Today’s majority opinion ignores the lessons of history. This is not the first time that tort victims have, in the face of a “crisis,” been deprived of their constitutional rights. In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, many states, including California, enacted panic legislation restricting the right of automobile guest passengers to obtain relief from negligently inflicted harm. (See Rudolph v. Iowa Methodist Medical Ctr. (Iowa 1980) 293 N.W.2d 550, 561 (dis. opn. of Reynoldson, C. J.), citing (1973) 23 Drake L.Rev. 216, 217; Stats. 1929, ch. 787, § 1, p. 1580.) It was not…