Case Title: White v. Quechee Lakes Landowners' Assn.

Citation: 170 Vt. 25, 742 A.2d 734

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 1999-09-24T00:00:00Z

Document:
White v. Quechee Lakes Landowners' Assn. (98-243); 170 Vt. 25; 742 A.2d 734

[Filed 24-Sept-1999]

       NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under
  V.R.A.P. 40 as well as formal  revision before publication in the Vermont
  Reports.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter  of Decisions,
  Vermont Supreme Court, 109 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05609-0801 of
  any  errors in order that corrections may be made before this opinion goes
  to press.

                                 No. 98-243

Anthony G. White, Individually and	         Supreme Court
as Administrator of the Estate of
Elizabeth L. White
                                                 On Appeal from
     v.		                                 Windsor Superior Court

Quechee Lakes Landowners' Association, Inc.	

     v.

Helo Factories, Ltd.                      	 April Term 1999

Alan W. Cheever, J.

       Kaveh S. Shahi of Cleary Shahi Associates, P.C., Rutland, for
  Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant.

       Robert D. Rachlin, Walter E. Judge, Jr. and Eric A. Poehlmann of Downs
  Rachlin & Martin   PLLC, Burlington, for Third-Party Defendant-Appellee.

PRESENT: Amestoy, C.J., Morse, Johnson and Skoglund, JJ., and Gibson, J. (Ret.), 	
	 Specially Assigned

       AMESTOY, J.   This is an indemnity case concerning the tragic death of
  a woman who  lost consciousness in a sauna owned and operated by
  third-party plaintiff Quechee Lakes  Landowners' Association.  The
  plaintiff in the underlying action, Anthony White, obtained a  $450,000
  settlement from Quechee Lakes following the close of evidence in a wrongful
  death suit  in which he claimed that Quechee Lakes's negligence caused his
  wife's death.  Following the  settlement, Quechee Lakes filed suit seeking
  indemnity from the manufacturer and distributor of  the sauna heating unit
  and control panel, third-party defendant Helo Factories, Ltd.  The superior 
  court granted summary judgment in favor of Helo, and Quechee Lakes now
  appeals that 

 

  judgment.  We agree with the superior court that, as a matter of law,
  Quechee Lakes is not  entitled to indemnification; accordingly, we affirm
  the court's judgment.

                       I. Facts and Procedural History

       Quechee Lakes owns and operates a health club for the recreational use
  of its members.  The club maintains saunas within its men's and women's
  locker room facilities.  Helo  manufactured the heating unit and control
  panel used in the women's sauna, but was not involved  in designing or
  constructing the sauna itself.  In 1973, before ownership of the resort was 
  transferred to the Quechee Lakes Landowners' Association, the developer
  hired an independent  contractor to construct the sauna.  Quechee Lakes
  operated and maintained the sauna without  incident until February 1, 1994,
  when Elizabeth White was found lying unconscious on the floor  of the
  sauna.  She died several days later as the result of irreversible
  hyperthermia, leaving behind  her husband and three young children.

       Anthony White filed two wrongful death actions, one against Quechee
  Lakes in the  superior court in January 1995, and the other against Helo in
  federal court approximately one year  later.  The federal case eventually
  settled.  In the state court action, Mr. White alleged that  Quechee Lakes
  failed to implement necessary safeguards concerning use of the women's
  sauna,  including screening users, monitoring use, posting an adequate
  warning sign, and adding an  automatic shutoff device, a timer, a clock, a
  thermometer, and a window in the sauna door.  He  also alleged that a
  Quechee Lakes employee negligently turned up the heat while his wife was in 
  the sauna, without first checking to see if anyone was inside.
	
       In turn, Quechee Lakes filed a third-party complaint against Helo, but
  the parties agreed  to sever that complaint and postpone its resolution
  pending the outcome of the underlying action,  which was contested in an
  eight-day trial in October 1997.  Following the close of evidence in that 
  trial, but before the case was submitted to the jury, the parties reached a
  $450,000 settlement  agreement.  The agreement explicitly reserved Quechee
  Lakes's right to seek indemnification from  Helo, stating that the
  settlement was not for any active or independent 

 

  negligence on Quechee Lakes's part.

       After the underlying action settled, Helo and Quechee Lakes filed
  opposing motions for  summary judgment regarding the third-party complaint. 
  Relying on the Restatement of Restitution  § 95 (1937), which this Court
  adopted in Bardwell Motor Inn, Inc. v. Accavallo, 135 Vt. 571,  573,