Rep. Steve Simon (DFL-St. Louis Park) is trying to make more people eligible for an award when a loved one is wrongfully killed.
He sponsors HF1494, which would permit some domestic partners to be the beneficiary of a damage award resulting from a wrongful death suit.
“Right now, if a legally recognized spouse is wrongfully killed, like in a car accident, the surviving spouse can sue the person responsible and recover expenses, medical expenses, funeral expenses, etc,” Simon said. “This bill just updates and modernizes the law to provide same sex couples to recover costs after a wrongful death.”
However, Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) successfully amended the bill to remove same sex domestic partners so the Legislature is “not creating a new equal protection problem to replace the existing equal protection problem we have in law.” The bill was approved March 27 by the House Civil Justice Committee and sent to the House floor.
Under the bill, domestic partners include people who:
• are adults and mentally competent to enter into legally binding contracts;
• have assumed responsibility for each other’s basic common welfare, financial obligations and well-being;
• permanently share a common domicile and primary residence with each other;
• have a committed interdependent relationship with each other, intend to continue that relationship indefinitely and do not have this type of relationship with any other person; and
• are not married to another person and have not entered into a domestic partnership arrangement that is currently in effect.
A companion, SF1321, sponsored by Sen. Linda Higgins (DFL-Mpls), has been incorporated into SF341, sponsored by Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon (DFL-Duluth). It awaits action by the full Senate.