Opinion ID: 409718
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Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Substantive Propriety of Comparing Fault of Phantoms

Text: 13 Plaintiff claims that it is improper under Kansas law to compare the fault of nonparties (phantoms) with that of defendants in a products liability case. The Kansas Comparative Negligence Act, 3 Kan.Stat.Ann. § 60-258a, was the basis for the apportionment of fault in this case, and although the Act speaks only of negligence, the Kansas courts have held that the doctrine of comparative fault applies to claims based on strict liability and breach of implied warranty. Kennedy v. City of Sawyer, 228 Kan. 439, 452, 618 P.2d 788, 798 (1980). Under the doctrine of comparative fault all parties to an occurrence must have their fault determined in one action, even though some parties cannot be formally joined or held legally responsible. Albertson v. Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft, 230 Kan. 368, 374, 634 P.2d 1127, 1132 (1981). The legislative intent behind § 258a is to ensure that all claims arising out of a tortious act are fully litigated in a single action. Eurich v. Alkire, 224 Kan. 236, 238, 579 P.2d 1207, 1208 (1978). The joinder provision of § 258a(c) allows a defendant to force a comparison of fault with third parties, but formal joinder is not a necessary prerequisite to comparing the fault of another. Kennedy v. City of Sawyer, 228 Kan. 439, 460, 618 P.2d 788, 803 (1980); Brown v. Keill, 224 Kan. 195, 206-07, 580 P.2d 867, 875-76 (1978). Thus, the Kansas courts have allowed comparison of the fault of phantom parties in products liability cases, Forsythe v. Coats Co., Inc., 230 Kan. 553, 639 P.2d 43 (1982); Lester v. Magic Chef, Inc., 230 Kan. 643, 641 P.2d 353 (1982), as well as in negligence cases. Brown v. Keill, 224 Kan. 195, 580 P.2d 867 (1978). We therefore reject plaintiff's contention that the fault of phantom parties cannot be compared under Kansas law. 14 Plaintiff argues that it was error to compare his own fault with that of defendants because he was guilty at most of ordinary negligence whereas defendants' liability is strict. The Kansas courts have recognized that since the Kansas version of strict liability is rooted in some notion of fault, it can be compared with other concepts of fault such as negligence, however imprecise the theoretical match of those concepts may be. Albertson v. Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft, 230 Kan. 368, 373, 634 P.2d 1127, 1131 (1981). As we understand Kansas law, all types of fault, regardless of degree, are to be compared in order to apportion the causal responsibility for the accident. See Kennedy v. City of Sawyer, 228 Kan. 439, 450, 618 P.2d 788, 796-97 (1980). 4 This is true whether the party at fault is the plaintiff, the defendant, or a nonparty. Id. at 460, 618 P.2d at 803; Forsythe v. Coats Co., Inc., 230 Kan. 553, 639 P.2d 43 (1982). 5 15 As we interpret the collective thrust of the Kansas cases, it appears that Kansas in effect treats each kind of traditional tort liability as a departure from a defined duty whether that departure is in the nature of breach of warranty, routine neglect, failure to warn, or placing a defective and unreasonably dangerous product in the stream of commerce even though reasonable care was taken in its manufacture. The latter type of departure is the most difficult to conceptualize in relation to ordinary negligence. The only way to harmonize the Kansas cases is to assume that manufacturers (and others in the stream of commerce) have an absolute duty not to put defective products in the stream of commerce if they reasonably can foresee use which might result in injury. When they breach that duty, Kansas leaves to the good judgment of the jury the task of deciding the degree to which the breach of that duty contributed to the injury as compared, for instance, with the negligent inattention or misuse of a plaintiff. While this process of comparing theoretically unlike conduct may baffle scholars and become the source of endless critical commentary, we think Kansas has opted for broad jury latitude and good sense in the interest of what it considers the higher value of settling injury disputes in one action. 16