Case Name: PANICH v. IRON WOOD PRODUCTS CORPORATION
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1989-08-07
Citations: 179 Mich. App. 136
Docket Number: Docket No. 113894
Parties: PANICH v IRON WOOD PRODUCTS CORPORATION
Judges: Before: Murphy, P.J., and Mackenzie and Griffin, JJ.
Reporter: Michigan appeals reports; cases decided in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Volume: 179
Pages: 136–149

Head Matter:
PANICH v IRON WOOD PRODUCTS CORPORATION
Docket No. 113894.
Submitted May 2, 1989, at Grand Rapids.
Decided August 7, 1989.
Leave to appeal applied for.
Plaintiff, Thomas Panich, an employee of defendant, Iron Wood Products Corporation, was injured at work when an electrical box on a machine exploded. Plaintiff was off work for six to seven months and did not learn that defendant had disposed of the remains of the electrical box at a local landfill until he returned to work. Plaintiff then brought an action in the Gogebic Circuit Court alleging negligence and interference with an economic advantage. The undisputed facts indicate that plaintiff never requested that defendant save the electrical box, defendant never assumed an obligation to preserve the damaged box, and plaintiff did not advise defendant of his intention to file a third-party action against the manufacturer of the box until after it had been discarded. The trial court, William G. Cloon, Jr., J., granted defendant’s motion for summary disposition, finding that defendant had no duty to preserve potential evidence for plaintiff’s benefit. Plaintiff appealed.
The Court of Appeals held:
1. The common law and the Workers’ Disability Compensation Act do not impose an affirmative duty on an employer to preserve evidence which might be used in an employee’s third-party liability action.
2. The trial court correctly dismissed plaintiff’s claim alleging intentional interference with an economic advantage. The Court of Appeals, under the facts of the instant case, declined to create in Michigan the tort of intentional interference with a prospective action by spoliation of evidence.
Affirmed.
Murphy, P.J., concurred with the majority that the facts of this case do not establish that defendant intentionally destroyed evidence necessary for plaintiff’s potential third-party _cause of action. He dissented, however, from the holding that there is no common-law duty owed by an employer to preserve evidence for an employee’s potential third-party action. He believes that the standard of care which defendant owed plaintiff was, at a minimum, to ask plaintiff if he wanted the electrical box preserved. He would affirm the dismissal of plaintiff’s claim that defendant intentionally destroyed evidence necessary for plaintiff’s third-party tort action but reverse the order of summary disposition relative to plaintiff’s negligence claim and remand for further proceedings.
References
Am Jur 2d, Evidence § 276; Interference §§ 1 et seq.
See the Index to Annotations under Economic Relations; Interference and Obstruction.
1. Negligence — Duty — Preservation of Evidence — Third-Party Actions.
Neither the common law nor the Workers’ Disability Compensation Act impose an affirmative duty on an employer to preserve evidence which might be used in an injured employee’s third-party liability action.
2. Torts — Intentional Interference with Economic Advantage — Evidence.
Michigan has not recognized the tort of intentional interference with an economic advantage based on a claim of intentional interference with a prospective civil action by spoliation of evidence.
Wisti & Jaaskelainen, P.C. (by Mark Andrew Wisti), for plaintiff.
Geissler & Dean, P.C. (by Timothy M. Dean), for defendant.
Before: Murphy, P.J., and Mackenzie and Griffin, JJ.

Opinion:
Griffin, J.
Plaintiff appeals as of right from a lower court judgment granting defendant's motion for summary disposition as to plaintiffs claim that defendant wrongfully destroyed evidence necessary for plaintiffs third-party tort action. We affirm.
i
On April 22, 1980, an electrical box on a lathe machine at defendant's plant exploded causing personal injuries to plaintiff, Thomas Panich. At the time of the accident, Panich was employed in defendant's maintenance department and was attempting to reset the box. As a result of his injuries, plaintiff was off work for six to seven months. When he returned, the plaintiff learned that during his absence the defendant had disposed of the remains of the electrical box at a local landfill.
Plaintiff filed the instant action against defendant, Iron Wood Products Corporation, on January 18, 1982, alleging negligence and interference with an economic advantage. Plaintiff asserted in his complaint that his employer intentionally discarded the electrical box after knowing that the plaintiff had a potential third-party claim against the manufacturer of the box. Through discovery, however, the following facts became undisputed: (1) plaintiff never requested the defendant to save the electrical box; and (2) defendant never assumed an obligation to preserve the damaged box. Additionally, there was no evidence that plaintiff advised the defendant of his intention to file a third-party action until after the electrical box had been discarded.
On the basis of this record, the lower court granted defendant's motion , for summary disposition under MGR 2.116(0(10), ruling that the defendant had no duty to preserve potential evidence for the benefit of its employee.
ii
On appeal, plaintiff argues that the common law and the Workers' Disability Compensation Act, MCL 418.827, subds (1) and (5); MSA 17.237(827), subds (1) and (5), impose an affirmative duty on an employer to preserve evidence which might be used in an employee's third-party liability action. We disagree.
A motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(0(10) tests the factual support for a claim. The court must consider the pleadings, affidavits, depositions, admissions, and other documentary evidence available to it and grant summary disposition if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. A party opposing a motion brought under (C)(10) may not rest upop the mere allegations or denials in his or her pleadings, but must by affidavit, deposition, admission, or other documentary evidence set forth specific facts showing that there is, a genuine issue for trial. MCR 2.116(G)(4).
Plaintiff's complaint sought recovery on two theories: negligence and intentional interference with an economic advantage. Addressing the negligence claim first, we note that the issue of duty is a question of law for the court to decide. Moning v Alfono, 400 Mich 425, 437; 254 NW2d 759 (1977), reh den 401 Mich 951 (1977). The existence of a duty is essentially a question of whether the relationship between the actor and the injured party gives rise to a legal obligation on the actor's part for the benefit of the injured party. Id., pp 438-439. The existence of a legal duty is an essential element of every negligence action. Duvall v Goldin, 139 Mich App 342, 347; 362 NW2d 275 (1984), lv den 422 Mich 976 (1985).
The issue before us of whether an employer has a duty to preserve evidence for the benefit of an employee's potential third-party suit is a matter of first impression in Michigan. We therefore turn to other jurisdictions for guidance.
In Coley v Arnot Ogden Memorial Hospital, 107 AD2d 67; 485 NYS2d 876 (1985), an employee of the defendant hospital was standing on a ladder when it collapsed, causing her injuries. The defendant's employees discarded the ladder after the accident, thus precluding the plaintiff from discovering the name of the ladder's manufacturer and effectively negating her third-party products liability claim.
The New York court ruled that the defendant did not owe the plaintiff a duty to preserve the ladder and, thus, the plaintiff had no cause for action. Id., p 69. The court's reasoning was based on the fact that the employer had innocently decided to discard the ladder to ensure the safety of others. Id. The court was unable to identify any duty owed and noted that the defendant had not assumed an obligation to preserve the ladder for plaintiff's benefit. Id.
Other jurisdictions have ruled consistently in accord. See Stupka v Peoples Cab Co, 437 Pa 509; 264 A2d 373 (1970), Parker v Thyssen Mining Construction, Inc, 428 So 2d 615 (Ala, 1983), and Koplin v Rosel Well Perforators, Inc, 241 Kan 206; 734 P2d 1177 (1987).
We agree with these authorities and likewise hold that there is no common-law duty owed by an employer to preserve evidence for an employee's potential third-party action.
hi
Plaintiff also asserts that the wdca, MCL 418.827 subds (1) and (5); MSA 17.237(827) subds (1) and (5), establishes a statutory duty on employ ers to preserve evidence for the benefit of their employees. We disagree.
A cardinal rule of statutory construction is that the words and phrases in a statute are to be given their plain and ordinary meaning. Van Dam v Grand Rapids Civil Service Bd, 162 Mich App 135, 138; 412 NW2d 260 (1987). Common sense should be employed when construing a statute. People v Meadows, 175 Mich App 355; 437 NW2d 405 (1989).
Plaintiff argues that the wdca expressly or impliedly imposes a duty upon an employer to preserve evidence for the benefit of its employees' third-party claims. We find no language in the statutory provision supportive of plaintiff's posi tion and note that plaintiffs strained and expansive construction is not buttressed by any legislative history or case law.
The role of the judiciary is to construe statutes as intended by the Legislature, not to rewrite them. No fair reading of the statute lends support to plaintiffs position that the Legislature intended to impose such a duty on employers. Although it is certainly in the employer's interest to preserve evidence, since an employer's workers' compensation lien will be reimbursed by a third-party recovery, we hold that the statute does not impose such a duty on employers.
IV
The lower court also dismissed plaintiffs claim alleging intentional interference with an economic advantage. Initially, we note that only two jurisdictions have recognized the tort of intentional interference with a prospective civil action by spoliation of evidence: Smith v Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles, 151 Cal App 3d 491; 198 Cal Rptr 829 (1984), and Hazen v Municipality of Anchorage, 718 P2d 456 (Alas, 1986). These courts stated that the underlying basis of this new tort is the "idea of unreasonable interference with the interests of others." Smith, p 496; Hazen, pp 463-464. Unlike in the instant case, the defendants in Smith and Hazen had assumed a duty to preserve evidence. Thus, the liability which arose was from the breach of an assumed duty.
The Kansas Supreme Court in Koplin v Rosel Well Perforators Inc, supra, distinguished Smith and Hazen from the present situation in which the defendant had not assumed a duty. In Koplin, the plaintiff was injured while employed by the defendant company when a T-clamp failed due to an alleged defect. The injured plaintiff sued his employer, alleging that an agent of the defendant had intentionally destroyed the T-clamp immediately after the accident thereby preventing the plaintiff from bringing a third-party action against the manufacturer. The Kansas court initially noted that in both Smith and Hazen destruction of the evidence was to the direct benefit of the defendants:
Both Smith and Hazen are readily distinguishable from the case before us. In Smith, Abbott Ford had agreed with Smith's counsel that it would safeguard and preserve the automotive parts for inspection and use by the plaintiff, thereby creating a duty to do so. No such agreement exists in the case at bar. In Hazen, the destruction of an allegedly exculpatory tape would presumably make conviction easier for the prosecution. In both cases the evidence was destroyed by the adverse party in pending litigation to the direct benefit of such party. That is not the situation with which we are faced. To the contrary, it would be to the disadvantage of the defendant herein to destroy any evidence because as the employer of plaintiff it would have been subrogated to any recovery Koplin might have obtained to the extent of the workers' compensation payments made to Koplin. [Koplin, supra at 212.]
Similarly, in the instant case it was not in the defendant's interest to destroy the remains of the electrical box since the same workers' compensation provision upon which the plaintiff relies grants the employer an economic interest as to third-party tort recoveries.
We hold that the lower court was correct in dismissing plaintiff's claim alleging intentional interference with an economic advantage. Under the facts of the instant case, we decline to create such a tort in Michigan.
Affirmed.
Mackenzie, J., concurred.
MCL 418.827; MSA 17.237(827) states:
(1) Where the injury for which compensation is payable under this act was caused under circumstances creating a legal liability in some person other than a natural person in the same employ or the employer to pay damages in respect thereof, the acceptance of compensation benefits or the taking of proceedings to enforce compensation payments shall not act as an election of remedies but the injured employee or his dependents or personal representative may also proceed to enforce the liability of the third party for damages in accordance with the provisions of this section. If the injured employee or his dependents or personal representative does not commence the action within 1 year after the occurrence of the personal injury, then the employer or carrier, within the period of time for the commencement of actions prescribed by statute, may enforce the liability of such other person in the name of that person. Not less than 30 days before the commencement of action by any party under this section, the parties shall notify, by certified mail at their last known address, the bureau, the injured employee, or in the event of his death, his known dependents or personal representative or his known next of kin, his employer and the carrier. Any party in interest shall have a right to join in the action.
(5) In an action to enforce the liability of a third party, the plaintiff may recover any amount which the employee or his dependents or personal representative would be entitled to recover in an action in tort. Any recovery against the third party for damages resulting from personal injuries or death only, after deducting expenses of recovery, shall first reimburse the employer or carrier for any amounts paid or payable under this act to date of recovery and the balance shall forthwith be paid to the employee or his dependents or personal representative and shall be treated as an advance payment by the employer on account of any future payments of compensation benefits.