Lau V. Nelson

This is a wrongful death action brought against the driver of an automobile in which the deceased was a passenger, and against the alleged owner of the vehicle. The accident occurred before the repeal of the state's host-guest statute (Laws of 1974, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 3, p. 2; former RCW 46.08.080) but had not gone to trial before the effective date of that repeal. On the day scheduled for trial, the plaintiff sought a declaration and order that the repeal was retroactive. The court's denial of that motion, based upon its holding that the law was not intended to apply retroactively, was brought to this court upon the granting of discretionary review, where it was affirmed upon a different ground. Lau v. Nelson, 89 Wash. 2d 772, 575 P.2d 719 (1978). This court held that the law, being a repealing act, was intended to operate retroactively; that its effect was to reinstate the rule at common law with respect to the duties of a host driver, and that that rule required proof of gross negligence before a guest could recover. We stated that the rule might be unduly harsh but declined to abandon it, since the petitioner had not attempted to establish its