Opinion ID: 3006720
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: In all actions, the court shall:

Text: (a) Instruct the jury to determine . . . the amount of damages to be awarded to each claimant and against each defendant in accordance with the proportionate fault of each of the parties; and (b) Enter judgment against each party liable on the basis of the rules of joint and several liability, except that if any party shall be less than 50 percent at fault, then that party’s liability shall be several and not joint and he shall be liable only for the damages attributable to him. “[F]or apportionment purposes under RSA 507:7-e, the word ‘party’ refers not only to ‘parties to an action, including settling parties,’ but to all parties contributing to the occurrence giving rise to an action, including those immune from liability or otherwise not before the court.” DeBenedetto, 153 N.H. at 804 (quotation, ellipsis, and citation omitted). “[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.” Id. “[A] civil defendant who seeks to deflect fault by apportionment to non-litigants is raising something in the nature of an 40 affirmative defense.” Goudreault v. Kleeman, 158 N.H. 236, 256 (2009). Accordingly, “the defendant carries the burdens of production and persuasion.” Id. Furthermore, “a defendant who raises a non-litigant apportionment defense essentially becomes another plaintiff who must seek to impose liability on a non-litigant just as a plaintiff seeks to impose it on him.” Id. (quotation and brackets omitted); see Wyle v. Lees, 162 N.H. 406, 413 (2011) (trial court implicitly concluded that the defendants failed to prove their allegations of comparative negligence for purposes of apportionment of damages). As the trial court correctly concluded, apportionment under RSA 507:7-e requires proof of fault. DeBenedetto, 153 N.H. at 800 (apportionment must include all tortfeasors who are causally negligent by either causing or contributing to the occurrence in question). At trial, Exxon’s expert witness, Jeffrey A. Klaiber, an environmental consultant, testified for several days, including providing extensive testimony regarding typical spill and leak scenarios for the various categories of alleged faulty nonparties. He acknowledged, however, that he did not interview anyone at any of the sites that Exxon contends are responsible for MTBE contamination, that he did not know whether anyone who owned or operated any of those sites knew that MTBE gasoline behaves differently from other gasolines when released into the environment, and that he did not know if any of the owners or operators of those sites even knew that MTBE was in the gasoline that they were receiving. Nonetheless, the trial court allowed the jury to consider apportioning liability to those nonparties. The trial court instructed the jury: In this state, courts and juries may apportion fault to all persons or entities who contributed to causing an injury, even if they are not parties to the lawsuit. What that means in this case is that if you find that the State has proven any of its three claims against ExxonMobil, then ExxonMobil shall have the burden of proving that some or all of its fault should be allocated to the nonparties identified in Defense Exhibit 1047. The jury answered “No” to each portion of this question on the special verdict form: “Has ExxonMobil proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, that some or all of its fault should be allocated to nonparties in the following categories? . . . a. Tanks With Holes . . . b. Aboveground Releases . . . c. Tanks With Releases . . . d. Junkyards.” Based upon the record, we are not persuaded by Exxon’s argument that it was denied “a meaningful opportunity” to apportion fault to third parties or that it suffered any prejudice from the trial court’s rulings. Accordingly, we find no error.