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Estate of Betty Jean Shinholster v. Annapolis Hospital7/30/2004
e personal representative or the decedent, based on the age that the decedent would have been had she been alive at the time of judgment. On the other hand, defendants and the Chief Justice contend that § 6311 is a limited exception that does not apply to a wrongful death action because the "plaintiff" in such an action is the estate, which cannot have an age. Post at 20.
The trial court held that, for purposes of § 6311, the term "plaintiff" refers to the decedent in a wrongful death case, and that because Shinholster was sixty-one at the time of her death, she necessarily would have been "60 years of age or older at the time of judgment." Thus, § 6306(1)(c), (d), and (e) do not apply. Although the Court of Appeals found that § 6311 is "ambiguous with regard to the term 'plaintiff' as applied to wrongful death cases," Shinholster, supra at 357, that Court declined to resolve the issue, holding that § 6311 applies because both the personal representative and the decedent were or would have been sixty years of age or older at the time of judgment:
MCL 600.6311 specifically refers to "a plaintiff who is 60 years of age or older . . ." (emphasis added). Accordingly, we could potentially hold that because the plaintiff here-Shinholster's personal representative-was over sixty, the MCL 600.6311 exception applied. However, we note that MCL 600.6306 also uses the term "plaintiff" in referring to comparative negligence. See MCL 600.6306(3)("the total judgment amount shall be reduced . . . by an amount equal to the percentage of plaintiff's fault"). Clearly, this reference to "plaintiff" is not a reference to a personal representative in a wrongful death case, because the personal representative would not be the one evaluated for comparative negligence; instead, the decedent would be so evaluated. We conclude that the statues at issue are essentially ambiguous with regard to the term "plaintiff" as applied to wrongful death cases.
However, it is not necessary, in the instant case, to resolve the ambiguity in MCL 600.6311. Indeed, both the "plaintiff" (i.e., the personal representative and the person who brought the lawsuit) and the decedent in this case satisfied the MCL 600.6311 exception. Accordingly, the trial court did not err by refusing to reduce the amount of future damages to present value. [Shinholster, supra at 356-357.]
The doctrine of noscitur a sociis, i.e., that "a word or phrase is given meaning by its context or setting," affords us some assistance in interpreting § 6311. See G C Timmis & Co v Guardian Alarm Co, 468 Mich 416, 420; 662 NW2d 710 (2003). We apply this doctrine to include the other provisions of Chapter 63 of the Revised Judicature Act because the term "plaintiff" does not stand alone here, and cannot be read in a vacuum. Instead, " t exists and must be read in context with the entire act, and the words and phrases used there must be assigned such meanings as are in harmony with the whole of the statute . . . ." Arrowhead Dev Co v Livingston Co Rd Comm, 413 Mich 505, 516; 322 NW2d 702 (1982). "Although a phrase or a statement may mean one thing when read in isolation, it may mean something substantially different when read in context." G C Timmis & Co, supra at 421.
MCL 600.6305(2) provides, in part:
In the event of death, the calculation of future damages shall be based on the losses during the period of time the plaintiff would have lived but for the injury upon which the claim is based.
Further, MCL 600.6306(3) provides, "If the plaintiff was assigned a percentage of fault . . . the total judgment amount shall be reduced . . . by an amount equal to the percentage of plaintiff's fault." As describe
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