Xiong v. Xiong

Nhia Xiong (defendant) and Mai Xiong were members of the Hmong ethnic group. In March or April 1975, while living in Laos, Nhia and Mai participated in a traditional Hmong marriage ceremony. According to Nhia, the couple did not register their marriage with the Laotian government—as required by Laotian law—because Nhia was helping the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Laotian government would have killed Nhia if Nhia identified himself to the government. In May 1975, Nhia and Mai fled Laos, ending up in a refugee camp in Thailand, where they lived for the next five years. Nhia and Mai came to the United States in 1980. Upon arriving in the United States, Nhia and Mai told immigration agents that they were married. Nhia and Mai lived in Illinois for several months, then moved to Pennsylvania (which recognized common-law marriages), where they lived for three years as husband and wife and had three children together. Nhia and Mai then moved to Wisconsin, where they had another child and continued to live as husband and wife. Nhia and Mai became United States citizens in 1985; Mai’s citizenship papers stated that Mai was married. In 1998, Mai was killed in an accident while travelling in a car driven by Nhia. Nhia and Mai’s children (plaintiffs) sued Nhia and Mai’s insurance company (defendant) for wrongful death. The insurer responded that under Wisconsin law, Nhia, as Mai’s surviving spouse, owned any wrongful-death claim. The children countered that Nhia was not Mai’s legal spouse because Nhia and Mai never legally married under Laotian, Thai, or Wisconsin law, which meant that the children could bring a wrongful-death claim on Mai’s behalf. The trial court ruled that Wisconsin should recognize Nhia and Mai as having been married. Accordingly, the trial court dismissed the children’s claim. The children appealed.