Opinion ID: 2221247
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Heading: Effect of the Shellabarger Settlement.

Text: Our court has consistently applied the pro tanto credit rule to partial settlements of claims in litigation. We allow a dollar-for-dollar credit against a plaintiff's personal injury verdict for sums received in settlement from other tortfeasors. See Jones v. City of Des Moines, 355 N.W.2d 49, 52 (Iowa 1984); Wadle v. Jones, 312 N.W.2d 510, 512 (Iowa 1981); Greiner v. Hicks, 231 Iowa 141, 146-47, 300 N.W. 727, 731 (1941). The rule is based on the principle that while a party is entitled to full compensation for his injuries, there can only be one satisfaction therefor. Wadle v. Jones, 312 N.W.2d at 513. All payments in settlement of a claim, except payments in the nature of a gratuity or arising from separate contract, fall under this rule which is designed to prevent the unjust enrichment of a double recovery. Id. at 514. The city contends on appeal, and the court of appeals decided, that the $10,000 plaintiff received in settlement from Shellabarger was a payment falling under the pro tanto credit rule which must be credited against plaintiff's $12,000 damage award. We disagree, concluding as did the trial court that the city failed to show it was entitled to credit the settlement against the jury verdict. The burden was on the city to plead and then establish its right to a credit. See Iowa R.App.P. 14(f)(5) (Ordinarily the burden of proof on an issue is upon the party who would suffer loss if the issue were not established.); Baker v. Beal, 225 N.W.2d 106, 114 (Iowa 1975) (an affirmative defense is one resting on facts not necessary to support the plaintiff's case). The city did amend its answer to plead that it was entitled to credit for the $10,000 settlement, but it did not follow through thereafter to show that without such a credit the plaintiff would receive more than full compensation for his injuries, the primary reason for applying our pro tanto rule. Although the plaintiff may have sustained a single injury as a result of the negligent acts of two tortfeasors, the damages he could recover from each of the two were not the same. From the city plaintiff was only allowed to recover for the physical pain and suffering incurred during the time he was denied medical attention. From Shellabarger he could have recovered for (but instead settled his claim for) such other items as medical and hospital bills, disability, and pain and suffering. Because the city did not establish in this record what amount would fairly represent full compensation for the combined injuries sustained by plaintiff as a result of both tortfeasors' actions, the city failed to prove a critical element for establishing its right to a pro tanto credit. We are unwilling to assume that $22,000 is a greater sum than a jury would have awarded plaintiff for all of his injuries. Our previous cases allowing pro tanto credits are therefore distinguishable, for in each the jury determined the total amount of damages caused by joint tortfeasors. See Jones v. City of Des Moines, 355 N.W.2d at 52 (total damage verdict of $63,000 reduced by $26,000 received in settlement); Wadle v. Jones, 312 N.W.2d at 514 (total damage verdict of $45,125.59 reduced by $45,000 received in settlement); cf. Greiner v. Hicks, 231 Iowa at 146-47, 300 N.W. at 731 (any total damage verdict received in new trial to be reduced by $2,750 received in settlement). It is clear in this record that the parties and the court consciously narrowed and restricted plaintiff's proof on the issue of damages so he would not be allowed any recovery for injuries caused solely by Shellabarger and not the city. The city's attorney requested and received assurance from plaintiff's attorney and the court before trial commenced that plaintiff was claiming damages only for his pain and suffering from the time he was arrested until he was released from jail. For this reason, the trial court in denying the city's post-trial claim for credit emphasized: Throughout these proceedings, the court meticulously separated out and permitted for jury consideration in the matter of damages only those proved damages that resulted to plaintiff as a result of his being confined in the Des Moines city jail for a period inconsistent with his state of health. No evidence of or consideration was permitted by the jury for any other injuries or damages sustained by the plaintiff, nor was any evidence permitted of actual hospital, medical and related expenses that were incurred by the plaintiff as a result of the accident which occurred prior to his aforementioned incarceration in the Des Moines city jail. Plaintiff was not even allowed to introduce in evidence the medical and hospital bills which were incurred after he was released from jail. The city has entirely failed to establish that the $22,000 plaintiff has received exceeds the total damages he would have been entitled to recover had the verdict measured all of the injuries he incurred as a result of the collision and its aftermath. We do not retreat from our adherence to the pro tanto rule for determining what part of a settlement must be credited against a damage recovery. We simply hold that the city established no basis in this record for crediting any part of the Shellabarger settlement against plaintiff's judgment for damages proximately caused by the city's negligence. DECISION OF THE COURT OF APPEALS VACATED; DECISION OF DISTRICT COURT AFFIRMED.