Opinion ID: 1722795
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: comparative negligence doctrine

Text: In Placek, supra, this Court abrogated the contributory negligence doctrine and replaced it with the doctrine of comparative negligence. Comparative negligence is a term of art which distinguishes contributory negligence as a partial bar to recovery from contributory negligence as a total bar. The Court explained: As a matter of terminology we replace the doctrine of contributory negligence. In actuality, however, it is contributory negligence as a total bar to recovery which is replaced. The effect of this action is to establish contributory negligence as a partial bar to recovery by insuring that any recovery of damages by a plaintiff be reduced to the extent of his or her own negligent contribution to the injury. [Emphasis in original. Placek, supra, 650, n 1.] In adopting the pure form of comparative negligence, the Court in Placek, 660-661, stated: The pure form does not unjustly enrich anyone. For example, if an accident is wholly the fault of one party, then that party would not, of course, recover damages. If an injured plaintiff was 51% to blame, then there still remains 49% of the fault which was not plaintiff's, and for which therefore the person who caused that much of the injury should be liable.    The doctrine of pure comparative negligence does not allow one at fault to recover for one's own fault, because damages are reduced in proportion to the contribution of that person's negligence, whatever that proportion is. The wrongdoer does not recover to the extent of his fault, but only to the extent of the fault of others.... What pure comparative negligence does is hold a person fully responsible for his or her acts and to the full extent to which they cause injury. That is justice. Thus, in cases in which the negligence of the plaintiff is at issue, a specific determination concerning the extent to which the plaintiff's negligence contributed to his injury is necessary in order to determine the total amount of recoverable damages. It should be noted that this determination is not made in relation to each defendant. The relative degrees of fault attributable to the defendants in such cases is not an issue relevant to the plaintiff. [9] It is relevant only as between the tortfeasors themselves, in an action for contribution, when available. MCL 600.2925b; MSA 27A.2925(2), MCL 600.2925c; MSA 27A.2925(3). The present jury instructions, which are modeled after the suggested instructions set forth in the appendix to Placek, only require assigning a percentage to the plaintiff's contributory fault. Percentages are not assigned to any of the defendants in making this determination, whether they have participated at trial or settled and been released. In assigning a percentage of contributory fault to the plaintiff, the jury is instructed to consider what percentage of the total fault (one hundred percent) is attributable to the plaintiff. The balance is assumed by the defendants. In a contribution action, the factfinder is instructed to assign percentages of fault to each defendant considering the total fault of the defendants only, so that the percentages add up to one hundred percent. See SJI2d 43.01A, 43.01B, 72.01A and 72.01B. In each of the present cases the juries were instructed and directed that if they found negligence on the part of the defendants they would then proceed to assess the total amount of the plaintiff's damages and determine whether the plaintiff was negligent. If he was, they were then to go on to express that negligence in the form of a percentage which would be used to reduce the total amount of the plaintiff's damages. In each case, the matter was submitted to the jury in special verdict form per Placek, and in each case the plaintiffs were found to have negligently contributed to their injuries. For example, in Jackson and Gagnon, the matter was submitted to the jury in the form of special questions as set forth in SJI2d 66.01. Question number three of SJI2d 66.01 is as follows: QUESTION NUMBER 3: What is the total amount of plaintiff's damages? ANSWER: $____________. Question number six of SJI2d 66.01 poses the following: QUESTION NUMBER 6: Using 100 percent as the total combined negligence which proximately caused the injury or damage to the plaintiff, what percentage of such negligence is attributable to the plaintiff? ANSWER: ____________ percent. Please note that the Court will reduce the total amount of plaintiff's damages entered in Question No. 3 by the percentage of negligence attributable to plaintiff, if any, entered in Question No. 6. The remainder will be the amount which plaintiff is entitled to recover. Thus, the juries in each case were asked to determine, using one hundred percent as the total combined negligence which caused the plaintiff's injury, what percentage was attributable to the plaintiff. In Jackson, the jury determined that the plaintiff's total damages were $400,000 and assessed the plaintiff's negligence at seventy-five percent. In Gagnon, the jury determined that the total damages were $200,000 and that the plaintiff's negligence was fifty percent responsible. In Rittenhouse, the jury assessed the plaintiff's total damages at $1,500,000 and found the plaintiff to be twenty percent at fault. Applying the computation method approved by the majority ( i.e., deducting the settlement amount before applying the plaintiff's percentage of negligence), reduces the plaintiff's fault percentage below that found by the jury. Applying the method approved by the majority to the present cases has the following effect. In Jackson, the plaintiff's total recovery is increased to $212,500, and, thus, the jury's determination concerning the plaintiff's comparative negligence is reduced from seventy-five percent to slightly less than forty-seven percent (46.875 percent). In Gagnon, the plaintiff's total recovery is $150,000, and the jury's finding that fifty percent of the damages were attributable to the plaintiff is reduced to twenty-five percent. In Rittenhouse, the plaintiff recovers $1,279,000, and the jury's assessment of the plaintiff's fault percentage is reduced from twenty percent to fifteen percent. This approach results, in every instance, in the modification of the jury's determination concerning the percentage of damages attributable to the plaintiff. In fact, the greater the proportion of fault attributed to the plaintiff toward one hundred percent, the greater such a modification occurs. [10] Two other jurisdictions that have adopted pure comparative negligence, by judicial decision and by legislative act, have addressed this precise computation issue. The courts of both jurisdictions have rejected the approach approved by the majority in these cases because it is inconsistent with the fundamental principles of comparative negligence and contradictory to the statutory setoff provisions of those states, which are substantially similar to the setoff provision incorporated within Michigan's statutory scheme. [11] The California Court of Appeals addressed this precise calculation issue in Lemos v Eichel, 83 Cal App 3d 110; 147 Cal Rptr 603 (1978). The court rejected the approach approved by the majority in the present cases, stating that applying the percentage reduction to the total damage before deducting the settlement is necessary to comply with the principles of the comparative negligence doctrine, adopted by the California Supreme Court in Li v Yellow Cab Co of California, 13 Cal 3d 804; 119 Cal Rptr 858; 532 P2d 1226 (1975), because it [reduces] the plaintiff's damages `in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to the person recovering.' Lemos, supra, 118 (citing Li, supra, 829). The court said that deducting the settlement first in effect reduces the fault percentage below that found by the jury, and, therefore, the court concluded that the correct procedure is to apply each plaintiff's contributory fault percentage reduction to the total damages and reduce the resulting figure by the amount of that plaintiff's pretrial settlement. (Citation omitted.) Id., 118-119. The California Supreme Court has approved the Lemos court's decision in this regard. See Aceves v Regal Pale Brewing Co, 24 Cal 3d 502, 512, n 4; 156 Cal Rptr 41; 595 P2d 619 (1979). The Washington Supreme Court rejected the approach approved by the majority in the present cases in Scott v Cascade Structures, 100 Wash 2d 537; 673 P2d 179 (1983). Applying the Washington contribution-release statute, Wash Rev Code,  4.22.060(2), which is analogous to Michigan's in all relevant respects, [12] the court held that the percentage of the plaintiff's fault was to be deducted prior to the settlement reduction: The purpose of the contribution statute is to ensure that a plaintiff receives that to which he or she is entitled. Accordingly, we conclude the proper method of calculation is to reduce the jury award by the percentage of fault attributable to the plaintiff before deducting the settlement award. [ Id., 545.] The Washington court also noted that under the gross damages approach (deducting settlement amounts from total damages), the percentage of fault attributable to the plaintiff would fall below the actual percentage determined by the jury. Id. I agree with the analyses of the California Court of Appeals and the Washington Supreme Court and conclude that the reasoning advanced by the majority in supporting its decision affirming the Court of Appeals decisions in the instant cases is erroneous. The Court of Appeals in Rittenhouse, 126 Mich App 674, 683-684; 337 NW2d 626 (1983), relied entirely upon DeMaris v Brown, 27 Wash App 932; 621 P2d 201 (1980), in deciding this issue. The Washington Court of Appeals decision in DeMaris, however, was directly reversed by the Washington Supreme Court in Scott, supra . The Court of Appeals in Gagnon, supra, 458-459, based its decision upon an incorrect extension of this Court's decision in Mayhew, supra, and a strained construction of the language of MCL 600.2925d; MSA 27A.2925(4). In Jackson, supra, 722-723, the Court of Appeals decision was based upon the prior decisions in Gagnon, and Rittenhouse. The majority in Jackson also cited Mayhew, DeMaris, supra, and the policy of encouraging settlements in support of its decision. The majority states: [T]here is no indication that the juries in these cases determined the plaintiffs' percentages of negligence by comparing their actions to all the possible tortfeasors.    [P]laintiff's percentage of fault ... was determined only in relation to the defendants participating at trial. [ Ante, pp 178, 182.] The majority asserts that in determining the extent of a plaintiff's contributory fault a jury's `sole duty [is] to allocate fault among the ... plaintiff and the nonsettling tortfeasor.' Ante, p 185 (quoting Gagnon, supra, 458-459). These statements are less than accurate and thus misleading. The juries in these cases did not determine the defendants' percentages of relative fault in relation to the plaintiff's contributory fault at all. [13] In determining the plaintiffs' comparative negligence the juries in each of these cases were only required to assign percentages to the plaintiffs' contributory fault. These necessary determinations were not made only in relation to the defendants participating at trial. Pursuant to the fundamental principles of the comparative negligence doctrine, factual determinations concerning what percentage of a plaintiff's injury, if any, was caused by that plaintiff's contributory fault are necessary to determine the total amount of that plaintiff's recoverable damages. Because plaintiffs in such cases are entitled to recover to the full extent of the fault of others, this necessary determination is not to be made only in relation to the defendants participating at trial. Rather, this determination should reflect the percentage of the plaintiff's injury that was proximately caused by the negligence of others, including those who have settled and been released from liability, and others who, for a variety of possible reasons, have not participated at trial. This is the only way that a plaintiff's total amount of recoverable damages can accurately be determined, and it is the only way which complies with the comparative negligence principle enunciated in Placek, supra, and with the principles of joint tort liability generally. Nothing in the past decisions of this Court precludes a plaintiff, defending against an assertion of comparative negligence, from presenting all of the factual circumstances surrounding the injury, including the conduct of settling parties or other parties that for some reason are not present at trial. That factual determinations concerning a plaintiff's contributory fault are to be made only in relation to nonsettling tortfeasors and that a settling tortfeasor's relative fault is somehow attributed to plaintiffs in such cases was refuted by this Court's analysis in Mayhew, supra . In Mayhew, this Court ruled that the statutory setoff provision incorporated within the contribution statute has survived the judicial adoption of comparative negligence, and rejected the assertion that the plaintiff's recovery against nonsettling defendants should be reduced by the percentage of fault attributable to the settling defendants rather than the amount of the settlements. The defendants in Mayhew argued that to comply with principles of pure comparative fault, the nonsettling defendants' liability should be reduced by the settling defendants' percentage of fault because the nonsettling defendants' liability should be limited to their proportion of fault. See 12 ULA, Uniform Comparative Fault Act,  6 (1985 Supp). The plaintiff, on the other hand, argued that the statutory language was clear and, therefore, should be applied. The Court, noting that the adoption of comparative negligence did not displace principles of joint and several liability, held that the nonsettling defendants' liability was to be reduced by the settlement amounts only, regardless of the settling defendants' relative fault. The Mayhew Court stated that the defendants' argument [was] not without logic, id., 405, and that allocation of liability by the tortfeasors' relative degree of fault is an important goal. Id., 410. Nevertheless, the Court held, applying the statutory setoff provision reflected in MCL 600.2925d; MSA 27A.2925(4), that the liability of the defendant non-settling tortfeasors is the total liability of the joint tortfeasors minus the amount of the settlement of the settling tortfeasor. Id., 410. The total liability of the joint tortfeasors from which the settlement amount is to be deducted is, as referred to in Mayhew, the total amount of damages not caused by the plaintiff's own negligence. The rationale advanced by the Mayhew Court was that its decision was consistent with the policies of (1) encouraging settlements and (2) assuring that a plaintiff is fully compensated for injuries sustained. Id., 411-412. The statute encourages settlement because the nonsettling defendants, in cases in which a plaintiff receives amounts in settlement from other potentially liable parties which are less than commensurate to the proportionate fault of those parties, risk liability in excess of their proportionate fault. The statute assures that a plaintiff is fully compensated for the same reason: The nonsettling defendants assume all liability in excess of amounts received by the plaintiff in settlement. In reaching its decision in Mayhew, the Court offered an example of the calculation and deduction method envisioned by the applicable statutory setoff provision. The calculation method approved by the majority in the present cases is inapposite to the example offered in Mayhew. See Id., 408, n 6. The issue decided in Mayhew did not concern the method by which a jury is to determine the plaintiff's percentage of comparative negligence. However, the arguments of the defendants and the plaintiff in Mayhew, as well as the Court's analysis and decision, were based on the legally and factually correct premise that a settling defendant's relative percentage of fault is assumed by the nonsettling defendants and not equally attributed to the plaintiff. In Brewer v Payless Stations, Inc, 412 Mich 673; 316 NW2d 702 (1982), the parties were in agreement concerning the amount of settlement and the calculation method for the deduction. This Court's decision in Brewer was limited to the following issue: Does the judge or the jury deduct the amount of the settlement ... under the facts of this case in which evidence of the amount has no bearing on a material issue of fact? [ Id., 675.] The Court noted, quoting MRE 402, that [a]ll relevant evidence is admissible, except as otherwise provided by the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Michigan, these rules, or other rules adopted by the Supreme Court. Evidence which is not relevant is not admissible. [ Id., 675, n 1.] The defendant in Brewer argued that the jury should be fully informed of settlement amounts if it is to deliver a considered judgment. Id., 677. The plaintiff argued that informing the jury of settlement amounts may be prejudicial to a plaintiff for a variety of reasons. Id. The Court agreed with the plaintiff in Brewer and held: When there is no genuine dispute regarding either the existence of a release or a settlement between plaintiff and a codefendant or the amount to be deducted, the jury shall not be informed of the existence of a settlement or the amount paid, unless the parties stipulate otherwise. [ Id., 679.] In reaching its decision in Brewer, the Court noted that the issue in that case could cut both ways; some of the plaintiff's arguments could be used by a defendant, and vice versa. Id., 678. The cases considered today stand as examples of the Brewer Court's observation concerning the double-edged nature of the arguments for and against allowing the jury to make the settlement deductions. In the instant cases the plaintiffs argue that if the juries had been informed of the settlement amounts, and had been required to make the deductions, their determinations may have been different, resulting in more favorable judgments for the plaintiffs. Likewise, the plaintiffs argue that if the juries had been required to determine the percentages of fault attributable to the settling defendants, their determinations concerning the plaintiffs' percentage of contributory fault may have been lower. [14] Therefore, the plaintiffs argue, and the majority agrees, the settlement amounts should be deducted from the total damages before the reduction for the plaintiff's comparative negligence is applied. It should be noted that none of the plaintiffs in the present cases has challenged this Court's decisions in Brewer or Mayhew. Nor did any of the plaintiffs object to the jury instructions given in each case. They each argue that these factors should only be considered at the calculation stage, and, thus, their arguments are limited to supporting the suggested deduction method they have advanced. The problems with this analysis are many. First, it has no basis in fact; both arguments are premised on speculation. Second, as the Court noted in Brewer, these arguments cut both ways. The plaintiff in Brewer successfully argued that allowing the jury to make the settlement deduction would prejudice the plaintiff. Third, and most importantly, this calculation approach is contradictory to the fundamental principles of the comparative negligence doctrine and is not supported by the language of the applicable statutory setoff provision. Since Placek, the jury instructions used by the trial courts of this state have been modeled after the suggested jury instructions set forth in the appendix to that reported decision. [15] None of the applicable jury instructions indicate that a plaintiff's contributory fault percentage should fluctuate depending on how many defendants are present at trial. They do, however, inform the jury that this finding of fact will be used to determine the amount which plaintiff is entitled to recover, and that it should be made in relation to the total combined negligence. [16] As stated in Placek, by general definition, and as reflected in the jury instructions given in each of the present cases, the factual finding concerning the extent of a plaintiff's contributory fault reduces the total amount of that plaintiff's damages, and the remainder is the total amount which is recoverable. This factual determination must be applied to reduce the plaintiff's total damages before deducting settlement amounts. There is no legal or factual basis to support crediting amounts received by a plaintiff in partial settlement, in such cases, to the percentage of damages attributable to the contributory fault of that plaintiff. For the foregoing reasons, I am in respectful dissent. I would reverse the decisions of the Court of Appeals and reinstate the judgments of the trial courts in Rittenhouse and Jackson, and I would reverse the Court of Appeals decision in Gagnon and remand that case to the trial court for entry of judgment consistent with this opinion.