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Levy v. Louisiana

Supreme Court of the United States
391 U.S. 68, 88 S. Ct. 1509, 20 L. Ed. 2d 436 (1968)
ELI5:

Rule of Law:

A state law that denies non-marital children the right to recover damages for the wrongful death of their mother violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Classifying children based on their legitimacy for the purpose of wrongful death recovery constitutes an invidious discrimination unrelated to the injury suffered.


Facts:

  • Louise Levy was the mother of five non-marital children.
  • Levy lived with her children, whom she treated as any parent would.
  • She worked as a domestic servant to support her children, taking them to church and enrolling them in a parochial school at her own expense.
  • The children were dependent on Levy for their care and nurturing.
  • Levy died, allegedly as a result of the wrongful actions of a doctor.

Procedural Posture:

  • Levy, on behalf of five non-marital children, filed a wrongful death suit in a Louisiana District Court against the attending doctor and his insurance company.
  • The Louisiana District Court dismissed the suit.
  • On appeal, the Louisiana Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal, interpreting the word 'child' in the relevant statute to mean only 'legitimate child.'
  • The Supreme Court of Louisiana denied the appellant's petition for a writ of certiorari.
  • The appellant then appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which noted probable jurisdiction.

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Issue:

Does a Louisiana statute, as interpreted to deny non-marital children the right to recover damages for their mother's wrongful death, violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?


Opinions:

Majority - Justice Douglas

Yes. A state statute that denies non-marital children a remedy for the wrongful death of their mother violates the Equal Protection Clause. Illegitimate children are 'persons' within the jurisdiction of the states and are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. While states have broad power to create classifications, a classification must be rational and cannot constitute an invidious discrimination. The legitimacy of a child's birth has no rational relation to the wrong inflicted upon their mother or the profound loss they suffer from her death. Denying these children recovery based on a status over which they have no control, for a harm in which they played no part, is fundamentally unjust and contrary to the principles of equal protection.



Analysis:

This landmark decision established that classifications based on illegitimacy are subject to scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause, marking a significant departure from common law traditions that disfavored non-marital children. The ruling recognized that punishing children for the circumstances of their birth is unjust and often lacks a rational basis. Levy v. Louisiana paved the way for future cases that would ultimately establish a heightened, intermediate level of scrutiny for such classifications, impacting laws concerning inheritance, government benefits, and child support for non-marital children.

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