284
Opinion of the Court
consequence that cannot be ignored.36 Neither in Bradley itself, nor in any case before or since in which Congress had not clearly spoken, have we read a statute substantially increasing the monetary liability of a private party to apply to conduct occurring before the statute's enactment. See Win-free v. Northern Pacific R. Co., 227 U. S. 296, 301 (1913) (statute creating new federal cause of action for wrongful death inapplicable to case arising before enactment in absence of "explicit words" or "clear implication"); United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. United States ex rel. Struthers Wells
36 The state courts have consistently held that statutes changing or abolishing limits on the amount of damages available in wrongful-death actions should not, in the absence of clear legislative intent, apply to actions arising before their enactment. See, e. g., Dempsey v. State, 451 A. 2d 273 (R. I. 1982) ("Every court which has considered the issue . . . has found that a subsequent change as to the amount or the elements of damage in the wrongful-death statute to be substantive rather than procedural or remedial, and thus any such change must be applied prospectively"); Klei-brink v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas R. Co., 224 Kan. 437, 444, 581 P. 2d 372, 378 (1978) (holding, in accord with the "great weight of authority," that "an increase, decrease or repeal of the statutory maximum recoverable in wrongful death actions is not retroactive" and thus should not apply in a case arising before the statute's enactment) (emphasis in original); Bradley v. Knutson, 62 Wis. 2d 432, 436, 215 N. W. 2d 369, 371 (1974) (refusing to apply increase in cap on damages for wrongful death to misconduct occurring before effective date; "statutory increases in damage[s] limitations are actually changes in substantive rights and not mere remedial changes"); State ex rel. St. Louis-San Francisco R. Co. v. Buder, 515 S. W. 2d 409, 411 (Mo. 1974) (statute removing wrongful-death liability limitation construed not to apply to preenactment conduct; "an act or transaction, to which certain legal effects were ascribed at the time they transpired, should not, without cogent reasons, thereafter be subject to a different set of effects which alter the rights and liabilities of the parties thereto"); Mihoy v. Proulx, 113 N. H. 698, 701, 313 A. 2d 723, 725 (1973) ("To apply the increased limit after the date of the accident would clearly enlarge the defendant's liability retrospectively. In the absence of an express provision, we cannot conclude that the legislature intended retrospective application"). See also Fann v. McGuffy, 534 S. W. 2d 770, 774, n. 19 (Ky. 1975); Muckler v. Buchl, 150 N. W. 2d 689, 697 (Minn. 1967).
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