Opinion ID: 3006720
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: RSA 507:7-e and DeBenedetto

Text: Exxon argues that it was “unfairly prejudiced in its ability to present its defense” under RSA 507:7-e (2010) and DeBenedetto v. CLD Consulting Engineers, Inc., 153 N.H. 793 (2006). Before trial, Exxon filed disclosures containing lists of several thousand non-litigants, including the names of gasoline suppliers, gasoline importers, foreign refiners, domestic refiners, distributors, trucking companies, and persons with leaking underground 37 storage tanks. After reviewing these initial disclosures, the trial court found that they did not sufficiently allege fault against the non-litigants and, as a result, did not provide either the court or the State with adequate notice under DeBenedetto. The trial court ordered Exxon to “set forth, with specificity, a good faith basis for why each party listed within their disclosures is responsible for the claims made by the State.” The State subsequently moved to strike Exxon’s supplemental disclosures, maintaining that Exxon failed to comply with the trial court’s order because the disclosures did not provide sufficient evidence specific to each DeBenedetto party. In its order, the trial court stated: Despite the fact that the New Hampshire Supreme Court has never directly addressed the present DeBenedetto issues, it has, nonetheless, supplied a framework to guide this court’s analysis. This framework is made up of four principles: first, that RSA 507:7-e applies to all parties contributing to the occurrence giving rise to the action, including those immune from liability or otherwise not before the court; second, that a civil defendant who seeks to deflect fault by apportionment to non-litigants is raising something in the nature of an affirmative defense; third, the defendant carries the burdens of production and persuasion; and fourth, that a defendant may not easily shift fault under RSA 507:7-e; allegations of a non-litigant tortfeasor’s fault must be supported by adequate evidence before a jury or court may consider it for fault apportionment purposes. (Quotations and citations omitted.) The trial court found “the most notable portion of the framework, and the most helpful in the present analysis, is that portion identifying non-litigant liability as akin to an ‘affirmative defense.’” Because in New Hampshire defendants are required to plead affirmative defenses to provide the plaintiff with adequate notice of the defense and a fair opportunity to rebut it, the trial court determined that “when a defendant raises a defense under DeBenedetto, its disclosure must provide the plaintiff with adequate notice of the defense and the plaintiff must be given fair opportunity to rebut it.” Looking at the requirements of other jurisdictions, the court reasoned that the Colorado standard “for evaluating a defendant’s notice of non-litigant fault [is] persuasive in molding a standard for ‘adequate notice’ under DeBenedetto.” Thus, the court concluded that proper notice in the DeBenedetto context requires [Exxon] to provide to the State identifying information for the nonparty in addition to a brief statement of the basis for believing such nonparty to be at fault. Furthermore, the notice must allege 38 sufficient facts to satisfy all the elements of at least one of the State’s claims. (Quotations, citations, and brackets omitted.) The trial court rejected Exxon’s assertion that it need demonstrate only “how a DeBenedetto party contributed to the harm alleged by the State, not correspond each DeBenedetto party to individual claims,” reasoning that Exxon cannot assert that it has “any less of a burden than to link [its] own allegations of non-litigant fault to at least one of the claims asserted by the State.” (Quotation omitted.) Thereafter, the trial court determined that with respect to negligence, Exxon “must assert that a nonparty owed a duty with respect to MTBE gasoline and breached that duty. This will require demonstrating that a nonparty had some knowledge of MTBE or its characteristics, or should have had some knowledge.” With respect to products liability, the trial court determined that Exxon “must assert that a nonparty knew or reasonably should have known of the nature of MTBE upon which the State’s claims are based in order to show that an entity below [Exxon] in the product chain is similarly culpable and/or owed a similar duty to warn.” The trial court explained that Exxon “need not show that a nonparty was aware of the unique nature of MTBE . . . However, a nonparty cannot possibly [have] foreseen the type of harm alleged by the State absent some knowledge that MTBE was generally present in gasoline or could have been present. Alternatively, [Exxon] may demonstrate that a nonparty should have known of MTBE.” After the jury verdict, Exxon moved to set aside the verdict and for a new trial. Exxon argued that the trial court erred by: (1) “improperly requiring ExxonMobil to prove that the non-parties were liable for the State’s claims, rather than proving only that they contributed to the State’s injury”; (2) “preventing ExxonMobil from relying on RSA 146-A to establish the nonparties’ fault”; (3) “requiring proof that the non-parties had actual or constructive knowledge of MTBE’s presence in gasoline before contributing to the State’s injury”; and (4) requiring it to present “categories of evidence rather than evidence about the actions of particular individuals in connection with particular injuries.” The trial court rejected Exxon’s first three challenges because they raised pure questions of law that the court addressed pretrial and “Exxon has raised no new fact or law to convince the Court to readdress these arguments.” Regarding the statewide proof claim, the trial court agreed with the State that allowing categories was a convenience, not a requirement, and “Exxon could have presented evidence regarding every individual DeBenedetto party, as opposed to categorical evidence.” As to the categories, the trial court found that “Exxon presented very little evidence establishing nonparty liability” and that its primary witness who testified regarding the various categories of nonparties “did not indicate that nonparties were aware of MTBE’s presence in 39 gasoline during the relevant time period, and he never stated that nonparties were aware their actions caused spills and leaks that caused MTBE contamination.” Accordingly, the trial court concluded that it “cannot say that a jury verdict rejecting Exxon’s DeBenedetto defense was conclusively against the weight of the evidence.” On appeal, Exxon argues that the trial court’s DeBenedetto rulings “deviate from clear precedent and denied Exxon a meaningful opportunity to prove that third parties contributed to at least part of the alleged harm.” Exxon asserts that the trial court’s ruling that Exxon had to link each DeBenedetto party to a claim made by the State “eviscerated Exxon’s statutory right to allocate fault to third parties.” The State argues that Exxon’s DeBenedetto argument is “unavailing because Exxon did not show at trial that non-parties were at fault for MTBE pollution.” We review challenges to a trial court’s evidentiary rulings under our unsustainable exercise of discretion standard and reverse only if the rulings are clearly untenable or unreasonable to the prejudice of a party’s case. In the Matter of McArdle, 162 N.H. at 485. We review questions of law de novo. Sanderson, 146 N.H. at 600. Pursuant to RSA 507:7-e and DeBenedetto, defendants may ask a jury to shift or apportion fault from themselves to other nonparties in a case. RSA 507:7-e, I, provides: