Those states that have adopted a cause of action for parents for the loss of a childs consortium include die following in reverse chronological order. United States v. Dempsey, 635 So.2d 961 (Fla. 1994); Jameson v. Hawthorne, 635 A.2d 1167 (R.I. 1994); Enochs v. Brown, 872 S.W.2d 312 (Tex.App. 1994); Pino v. Gather, 633 So.2d 638 (La App. 1993); Gallimore v. Childrens Hospital Medical Center, supra, 67 Ohio St.3d 244; Gillispie v. Beta Construction Co., 842 P.2d 1272 (Alaska 1992); Masaki v. General Motors, 71 Haw. 1, 780 P.2d 566 (1989); Davis v. Elizabeth General Medical Center, 228 N.J. Super. 17, 548 A.2d 528 (1988); Jacobs v. Anderson Building Co., 430 N.W.2d 558 (N.D. 1988); Frank, M. C., P.C. v. Superior Court, 150 Ariz. 228, 722 P.2d 955 (1986); Shockley v. Prier, 66 Wis.2d 394, 225 N.W.2d 495 (1975); Hayward v. Yost, 72 Idaho 415, 242 P.2d 971 (1952); see also Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 231, § 85X (Law. Co-op. Sup. 1994); Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 4.24.010 (West 1988). The courts in Illinois are divided: compare Barkei v. Delnor Hospital, 176 Ill. App.3d 681, 531 N.E.2d 413 (1988) (no cause of action) with Dymek v. Nyquist, 128 Ill. App.3d 859, 469 N.E.2d 659 (1984) (recognizing cause of action).

But most courts recognize the inconsistency in permitting parental consortium claims but denying those for filial consortium. See, e.g., Gillispie v. Beta Constr. Co., 842 P.2d 1272, 1274 (Alaska 1992) ("We have already held that a wife has the right to sue for loss of 'care, comfort, companionship and solace' resulting from an injury to her husband, and that a child is entitled to loss of consortium damages when his parent is tortiously injured. To now hold that a parent is not entitled to recover loss of society for the death of his or her child would run counter to this line of precedent."); Giuliani v. Guiler, 951 S.W.2d 318, 321 (Ky. 1997); Berger v. Weber, 303 N.W.2d 424, 434 (Mich. 1981) (Levin, J., dissenting); Pence v. Fox, 813 P.2d 429, 433 (Mont. 1991); Gallimore v. Children's Hosp. Med. Ctr., 617 N.E.2d 1052, 1057 (Ohio 1993).

Recovery is permitted pursuant to statutory language (i.e. "general loss" or "pecuniary loss") in the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Vermont. See Gillispie v. Beta Constr. Co., 842 P.2d 1272 (Alaska 1992); Frank v. Superior Court, 150 Ariz. 228, 722 P.2d 955 (1986); Perry v. Medina, 192 Cal.App.3d 603, 237 Cal.Rptr. 532 (5th Dist. 1987); Checketts v. Bowman, 70 Idaho 463, 220 P.2d 682 (1950); Bullard v. Barnes, 102 Ill.2d 505, 82 Ill.Dec. 448, 468 N.E.2d 1228 (1984); Vincent v. Morgan's L. T.R. S.S. Co., 140 La. 1027, 74 So. 541 (1917); Fussner v. Andert, 261 Minn. 347, 113 N.W.2d 355 (1961); Louisville N.R. Co. v. Whisenant, 214 Miss. 421, 58 So.2d 908 (1952); Davis v. Smith, 152 Mont. 170, 448 P.2d 133 (1968); Selders v. Armentrout, 190 Neb. 275, 207 N.W.2d 686 (1973); Green v. Bittner, 85 N.J. 1, 424 A.2d 210 (1980); Saguid v. Kingston Hosp., 213 A.D.2d 770, 623 N.Y.S.2d 341 (N.Y.App. Div. 1995), appeal dismissed, 87 N.Y.2d 861, 639 N.Y.S.2d 312, 662 N.E.2d 793, leave to appeal dismissed by 88 N.Y.2d 868, 644 N.Y.S.2d 686, 667 N.E.2d 337 (1996); Hopkins v. McBane, 427 N.W.2d 85 (N.D. 1988); Gomillion v. Forsythe, 218 S.C. 211, 62 S.E.2d 297 (1950); Anderson v. Lale, 88 S.D. 111,

Thus, the Alaska statutes do not allow the nondependent sibling of a wrongful death victim to assert a wrongful death claim for nonpecuniary harm. AS 09.55.580(a); Gillispie v. Beta Constr. Co., 842 P.2d 1272, 1273 (Alaska 1992) ("When the decedent is not survived by dependents, the statute limits recovery to pecuniary loss,").Cf.

See, e.g., Sizemore, 422 N.W.2d at 674 n. 27; Powell v. American Motors Corp., 834 S.W.2d 184 (Mo. 1992); McCaskill v. Philadelphia Housing Auth., 419 Pa. Super. 313, 615 A.2d 382, 386 (1982); Boucher, 850 P.2d at 1186.See Idaho Code § 5-310; La. Civ. Code Ann. art. 2315; Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 231 § 85X; R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-41; Wash. Rev. Code § 4.24.010; Gillispie v. Beta Constr. Co., 842 P.2d 1272 (Alaska 1992) (Alaska Stat. § 09.15.010 creates separate parental cause of. action that includes right to recover loss of society damages); Madison v. Colby, 348 N.W.2d 202 (Iowa 1984) (recognition of claim of loss of filial consortium based on Ia. R. Civ. P. 8). Jurisdictions that have judicially adopted the claim view the adoption of consortium claims as within the responsibility of judicial authority.

AS 09.15.010, which creates a separate, independent parental cause of action, does not apply here because it accounts for parents' losses resulting from injury or death to their child. Gilspie v. Beta Const. Co., 842 P.2d 1272, 1273 (Alaska 1992); see id. at 1273-74 (noting that the predecessor statute to AS 09.15.010 was "interpreted as pertaining to pecuniary loss of the parent," and concluding that AS 09.15.010 is "the appropriate vehicle for recognizing [parents' mental and emotional] loss" resulting from the death of their child). Russell did not assert any claims on her own behalf in this matter and so does not incur liability for attorney's fees and costs as a plaintiff.

When a word or phrase has previously been legislatively defined or judicially construed in a particular way, we are to presume (in the absence of evidence to the contrary) that later-enacted statutes carry forward the existing meaning of that word or phrase.Gillispie v. Beta Construction Co., 842 P.2d 1272, 1273 (Alaska 1992); see City of Fairbanks v. Schaible, 375 P.2d 201, 207-08 (Alaska 1962); Patterson v. State, 708 P.2d 712, 716 (Alaska App. 1985); and see Hart v. State, 702 P.2d 651, 659 (Alaska App. 1985). Second, to the extent that the meaning of "treatment" remains ambiguous, we must interpret it in favor of the defendant and against the State.

AS 09.55.580(a) (stating that money recovered under statute "shall be exclusively for the benefit of the decedent's spouse and children . . . or other dependents").See, e.g., Gillispie v. Beta Constr. Co., 842 P.2d 1272, 1272 (Alaska 1992) ("Alaska's wrongful death statute . . . creates a dichotomy between actions in which the decedent left dependents and actions in which the decedent did not."); Horsford v. Estate of Horsford, 561 P.2d 722, 727 (Alaska 1977) ("Our Wrongful Death Act explicitly provides for only one instance, namely, when there are no statutory beneficiaries, where the damages recovered are to be administered as part of the decedent's estate."). We held to the contrary in Kulawik v. ERA Jet Alaska.

See generally Mattingly v. Sheldon Jackson Coll., 743 P.2d 356, 365 (Alaska 1987).See AS 09.15.010; Gillispie v. Beta Constr. Co., 842 P.2d 1272, 1273 (Alaska 1992) (AS 09.15.010 creates parental cause of action for loss of child separate from wrongful death action brought by child's estate). In negotiating the Wolds' claims, then, Allstate recognized and accepted that the Wolds were asserting each of their claims against both Smith's liability and UM/UIM policies: Allstate thus assumed that the estate could potentially recover $100,000 plus add-ons (attorney's fees and interest) on its wrongful death claim under each of Smith's policies and that Cynthia could potentially recover an additional $100,000 plus add-ons on her bystander NIED claim under each of those policies.

Jackson was insured by Allstate, which paid one $50,000 liability policy limit, plus add ons, to the Estate of Heather Dowdy to settle its claims for wrongful death, and one $50,000 liability policy limit, plus add ons, to the Dowdys to settle their claims for NIED, loss of society, and punitive damages. The Dowdys assert their NIED claim under Beck v. State, 837 P.2d 105, 109-11 (Alaska 1992), their loss of society claim under Gillispie v. Beta Constr. Co., 842 P.2d 1272 (Alaska 1992), and their punitive damages claim under State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Lawrence, 26 P.3d 1074, 1079-81 (Alaska 2001). This petition for review requires that we consider whether the claims should be arbitrated or judicially tried, not to assess the merits of the liability claims.