Opinion ID: 1909932
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Reduction of the Verdict

Text: We first address Hewitt's assertions that the court erred in reducing the verdict by the value of her pretrial settlements with Mobile Travelers and Charles Bahmueller. 14 M.R.S.A. § 163 provides that when a person has sought recovery for a personal injury caused by two or more persons and has reached a settlement with one or more of those persons, at a subsequent trial against the other persons causing the injury, the trial judge shall reduce the verdict by an amount equal to the settlement.... The only instance in which we have held that section 163 does not require reduction of a verdict by the amount of a settlement is when the settlement was made with a party who is determined by the verdict to be without causative fault. Thurston v. 3K Kamper Ko., 482 A.2d 837, 842 (Me.1984). Hewitt originally sought recovery from Mobile Travelers, Charles Bahmueller, and the nonsettling defendants based on allegations that all of the defendants caused her injuries. Because Mobile Travelers was not before the jury for allocation of fault (the cross-claims of the nonsettling defendants against it had been dismissed) and Charles Bahmueller was apportioned 60 percent of fault by the jury, the verdict did not declare either of the nonsettling defendants to be without causative fault. By the terms of section 163, the court was required to reduce the verdict against the nonsettling defendants by the amount of the settlements with Mobile Travelers and Charles Bahmueller. [4] We reject Hewitt's argument that the verdict should not have been reduced by the amount of the settlement with Mobile Travelers because that settlement addressed different causes of action than those asserted against the nonsettling defendants. The focus of section 163 is on whether the plaintiff sought recovery for the same injury against both the settling defendants and the nonsettling defendants, not on whether the plaintiff asserted the same theories of recovery against all of the defendants. Moreover, Hewitt alleged that all of the defendants, including Mobile Travelers, were negligent.