Opinion ID: 166827
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: District Court’s Verdict Reconciliation

Text: Homeowners argue that the district court’s conclusion that the jury “likely concluded” Heatway to be at fault for the claims successfully asserted against Goodyear rests on the erroneous assumption that the jury was instructed to assess Heatway’s fault as a nonparty as to these claims. Homeowners further maintain that to the extent the verdict was sustained on these grounds, Heatway could not be considered a nonparty to these claims because Goodyear failed, under Colorado law, to plead and prove as such.
Homeowners maintain, on several grounds, that the jury was instructed to consider Heatway’s fault only with respect to claims asserted against it as a defendant. First, Homeowners point to the jury instruction’s repeated reference to Heatway and Goodyear in their capacity as defendants. (Aplt. Op. Br. at 33-36). Yet, the repeated reference to Heatway as a defendant does not compel the conclusion that the jury was foreclosed from considering Heatway’s fault as a nonparty with respect to the claims asserted against Goodyear. No instruction to that effect was given, nor did Homeowners request one. -15- Second, paragraph 3 of Instruction 23 1 directed the jury to compare “the 1 Instruction 23, which pertained to apportionment of fault, stated as follows (numbers have been added in brackets at the beginning of each paragraph of Instruction 23 to facilitate reference to them): [1] If you find that a plaintiff Homeowner had damages and that these damages were caused by the negligence or fault of any one or more of the defendants, Goodyear or Heatway, you must then determine: 1. whether any nonparties were negligent or at fault; and 2. whether any such negligence or fault of the nonparties contributed to the plaintiff’s damages. [2] The negligence or fault of the nonparties are affirmative defenses that must be proved by a preponderance of the evidence. [3] The fault, if any, of Goodyear and/or Heatway, and the nonparties contributing to the damage shall be compared by the jury. ‘Fault’ includes sale of a defective product, negligence, negligent failure to warn, violation of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, and civil conspiracy. [4] If you find that one or more of the nonparties were negligent or at fault, then you must also determine to what extent the negligence or fault of each of the defendants, and the negligence or fault of the designated nonparties, if any, contributed to that plaintiff Homeowner’s damages, expressed as a percentage of 100 percent. [5] If the plaintiff Homeowner is allowed to recover, the total amount of the damages awarded will be reduced by the percentage of the negligence or fault, if any, of the designated nonparties. [6] If you find no negligence or fault on the part of nonparties, you must still determine to what extent the negligence or fault of each of the defendants contributed to the plaintiff Homeowner’s damages, expressed as a percentage of 100 percent. J.A. at 778-79. -16- fault, if any, of Goodyear and/or Heatway” with that of the “nonparties.” Homeowners argue that “[i]f this reference to ‘Heatway’ were not meant to refer to Heatway in its capacity as a defendant, this sentence would be confusing at a minimum: it would ask the jury to compare the fault of Heatway as a defendant with the fault of Heatway as a nonparty.” (Aplt. Op. Br. at 35). However, with regards to non-party status in this context, persons and entities are nonparties in their relation to claims, not the litigation. Heatway was a nonparty with respect to the claims asserted against Goodyear by Homeowners. Heatway was a party to the claims asserted against it by the Heatway plaintiffs. Thus, the jury was not asked to compare the fault of Heatway as a defendant with the fault of Heatway as a nonparty. Third, paragraph 3 of Instruction 23 omits, from the list of theories that could constitute “fault,” any mention of fraud. Homeowners assert that if Goodyear had chosen to include theories beyond those urged by the Heatway plaintiffs (CCPA and civil conspiracy) and including sale of a defective product, negligence and negligent failure to warn, Goodyear surely would have demanded that fraud be added to the list. This argument is wholly speculative. Goodyear may not have listed fraud as a theory of “fault” because it asserted a cross-claim against Heatway based on fraud, i.e., both Heatway and Goodyear were already parties to the fraud claim. Regardless, the absence of fraud in the list does not -17- control this issue. Last, Homeowners argue that the district court’s assumption that the jury could have found Heatway at fault for negligence, negligent failure to warn, and sale of a defective product was incorrect because its reliance on the term “fault,” as defined in Instruction 23, was misplaced. Homeowners maintain that the definition of the term “fault” was merely a convenient “checklist” for the jury of all the theories of liability asserted against one or both of the defendants, Goodyear and Heatway, and that it was not intended to supersede all of the other instructions and submit to the jury theories of fault against Heatway that had not been raised. This argument is unavailing. The jury instructions defining the elements of the claims asserted against Goodyear specifically required the jury to “consider Goodyear’s defense[] of . . . the fault of others.” J.A. at 755-56, 759, 765, 768. Thus, to the extent that the district court relied on the definition of the term “fault,” within Instruction 23, its reliance was supported by the underlying elements of the claims instructions. Accordingly, we find no inconsistency between the verdicts and the jury instructions. The contended-for construction by the Homeowners borders on tortured.
Homeowners also argue that to the extent the district court upheld the jury’s apportionment of fault to Heatway as a nonparty to the claims successfully -18- asserted against Goodyear, it adopted an interpretation of the verdict that conflicts with Colorado law. Homeowners maintain that in order for the jury to apportion fault to Heatway based on the claims asserted against Goodyear, Goodyear was required to plead and prove that Heatway was at fault as a nonparty on these grounds; yet it failed to do so. In Redden v. SCI Colo. Funeral Servs., Inc., 38 P.3d 75, 80-81 (Colo. 2001) and Barton v. Adams Rental, Inc., 938 P.2d 532, 535-40 (Colo. 1997), the Colorado Supreme Court set forth the relevant requirements of the Colorado apportionment statute, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-111.5. First, a party must sufficiently designate the nonparty by making “a brief statement of the basis for believing such nonparty to be at fault.” Redden, 38 P.3d at 80 (quoting Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-111.5(3)(b)). To satisfy this requirement, the party must “allege the basis for believing the nonparty is legally liable to the extent the nonparty’s acts or omissions would satisfy all the elements of a [] claim.” Id. at 81. Courts should “construe designation requirements strictly to avoid a defendant attributing liability to a non-party from whom the plaintiff cannot recover.” Id. at 80. Second, the defendant seeking the allocation of fault must present sufficient evidence at trial to support a finding on each of the essential elements of the claimed basis for a finding of fault. See Barton, 938 P.2d at 536-37. -19- Goodyear’s initial designation of Heatway as a nonparty at fault stemmed from its cross-reference to allegations it made in its Answer to Plaintiffs’ Complaint (“Goodyear’s Answer”) and Cross-Claim against Heatway (“Goodyear’s Cross-Claim”). J.A. at 310-12. Goodyear’s Answer contained no allegation of fault against Heatway. See J.A. at 296A-P. Homeowners contend, therefore, that Goodyear’s Cross-Claim, which asserted that Heatway had committed fraud, was the operative pleading. (Aplt. Op. Br. at 23); see J.A. at 250-56. Accordingly, Homeowners maintain that Goodyear’s designation of Heatway as a nonparty at fault was limited to its allegation of fraud, and that the jury was thereby precluded from considering any other claims in determining Heatway’s fault. (Aplt. Op. Br. at 39). The Amended Final Pretrial Order, dated February 3, 2003, however, by its own terms supplanted all prior pleadings of the parties. J.A. at 317-45. The Amended Pretrial Order states: Plaintiffs’ claims asserted against Goodyear are barred or reduced to the degree or percentage of negligence or fault attributable to certain non-parties at fault pursuant to § 13-21-111.5, C.R.S. J.A. at 322 (emphasis supplied). Homeowners argue that the Amended Final Pretrial Order “affords no basis for altering the plain meaning of Goodyear’s specific designation of Heatway as a nonparty at fault.” (Aplt. Reply Br. at 44). We disagree. To the extent -20- Goodyear’s Cross-Claim was the operative document, it was obviated by the Amended Final Pretrial Order which clearly contemplated the reduction of Goodyear’s liability based on the “negligence or fault” of nonparties, including Heatway. Further, logic compels the conclusion that the Amended Final Pretrial Order contemplated more than the fraud allegation contained in Goodyear’s Cross-Claim because Heatway was not a nonparty to that claim; it was the defendant. Moreover, to the extent Goodyear’s designation of Heatway in the Amended Final Pretrial Order was insufficient or lacked a basis for altering its designation in Goodyear’s Cross-Claim, the Homeowners failed to make a timely objection on that basis. Cf. Redden, 38 P.3d at 79-80 (plaintiff objected to a nonparty designation before the case was submitted to the jury). Homeowners maintain that even if Goodyear’s designation was proper, Goodyear failed to provide sufficient evidence that Heatway was negligent or at fault. The jury apportioned fifty percent “fault” to Heatway as a nonparty to the claims successfully asserted against Goodyear, but the verdict form did not allow the jury to indicate the claimed basis for its finding of fault: defective product, negligence, or negligent failure to warn. That is, the apportionment of fault verdict was general. As such, the jury’s apportionment of fault to Heatway could have been based on defective product, negligence, or negligent failure to warn. Homeowners did not object to the instructions defining the elements of -21- each claim, and our review of Colorado law reveals that they were proper. The jury instructions on defective product and negligence both required the jury to find Goodyear manufactured Entran II. J.A. at 755-64. The jury instruction on negligent failure to warn was not so restricted: If a manufacturer or seller of a product knows or in the exercise of reasonable care should know that the use of a product may be harmful or injurious to a consumer’s or user’s property, and such risk of harm or injury is not obvious to a reasonable consumer or user, then the manufacturer or seller must use reasonable care to warn the consumer or user of the risk of harm or injury if a reasonablely careful person would under the same or similar circumstances. The failure to do so is negligence. J.A. at 763. Upon review of record, we have little trouble concluding that sufficient evidence was adduced at trial to support such a finding. The Homeowners’ failure to use a corrosion preventative may have contributed to the harmful effect that Entran II had on the Homeowners’ hydronic heating systems, and ultimately their homes. Further evidence suggested that such risk of harm or injury was not obvious to Homeowners. Evidence was also presented that Heatway failed to use reasonable care to warn the Homeowners of these risks by, for example, providing them with instructions for the use of Entran II, including the need for corrosion prevention. Homeowners argue that Heatway was not aware of any problems with the design of Entran II and thus could not have been negligent for failing to warn the -22- Homeowners of the risks associated therewith. However, this argument unduly narrows what the jury was required to find in order to conclude that Heatway was at fault for negligent failure to warn. The jury was required to determine whether Heatway, knew or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known, that the use of Entran II may be harmful or injurious to the Homeowners’ property. See J.A. at 763. A reasonable jury could well have found that Heatway, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known of the risks associated with using Entran II and that it acted negligently in failing to warn the Homeowners thereof. Moreover, it was reasonable for the jury to conclude that this negligence contributed to the Homeowners’ damages. Therefore, we will not disturb the jury’s determination that Heatway was equally at fault for the damages suffered by the Homeowners. The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Heatway’s post-judgment motion on this basis.