Opinion ID: 1467547
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Procedural Aspect

Text: The complaint against Lea, the Associates and Union Oil asserted that the damages to the plaintiff's property, including its business loss, were due proximately to the negligence of the three defendants. Each defendant cross-claimed against the other two for contribution. The Associates counterclaimed against Emery Waterhouse, the plaintiff, on the basis of their right to indemnity under the lease contract, and additionally raised the affirmative defense of release from liability. Before trial, the parties did agree that the rights and liabilities arising out of the indemnity and release clauses of the lease agreement between Emery Waterhouse and the Associates presented legal issues for the court and not the jury to determine. In its special verdict, the jury apportioned fault as follows: Emery Waterhouse, zero percent; Union Oil Co., zero percent; the Associates, twenty-five percent; Lea, seventy-five percent. The jury returned a verdict against the defendants, Lea and the Associates, in the amount of $78,388.43. The court subsequently determined that the indemnity clause contained in the lease agreement between Emery Waterhouse and the Associates did not protect the owner-lessor Associates against their own negligence. The court further ruled that under the lease the Associates were released from liability to Emery Waterhouse in the amount of $53,388.43, the sum paid to the plaintiff by its own insurer. The ensuing judgment, as docketed on May 14, 1982, reflects the following pertinent information: against the defendant, Lea, judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Emery Waterhouse, in the amount of $78,388.43, together with interest and costs; against the defendants, Emery Associates, judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Emery Waterhouse, jointly and severally with the afore-mentioned defendant, Gilbert Lea, in the amount of $25,000.00, together with interest and costs; against the defendants, Emery Associates, judgment in favor of the defendant, Lea, for contribution in the amount of $6,250.00; against the defendant, Lea, judgment in favor of the defendants, Emery Associates, for contribution in the amount of $18,750.00. Subsequent motions for judgment n.o.v., for a new trial, and to alter or amend the judgment pressed by the defendants, Lea and Emery Associates, were denied.