Opinion ID: 1320200
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Comparative Negligence Statute and Willful or Wanton Conduct

Text: The jury was instructed that [c]ontributory negligence if any, on the part of the decedent does not reduce any recovery by the plaintiffs John T. Davies or Billie J. Davies against a defendant for an injury caused by misconduct of a defendant if you find that the defendant intended to inflict harm upon the decedent. (Emphasis added.) Appellants claim this instruction constituted reversible error and that the trial court should instead have given the following proposed instruction: Contributory or comparative negligence of the decedent is not a bar to recovery for any injury or damage caused by the wilful or wanton conduct of a defendant. Wilful or wanton misconduct is intentional wrongful conduct, done either with knowledge that serious injury to another will probably result, or with a wanton or reckless disregard of the possible results. (Emphasis added.) It has long been the rule in this jurisdiction that contributory negligence is not a bar to recovery for injury or damage caused by the willful or wanton misconduct of a defendant. Rocky Mt. Produce v. Johnson, 78 Nev. 44, 369 P.2d 198 (1962); Crosman v. Southern Pac. Co., 44 Nev. 286, 194 P. 839 (1921). Respondents contend that with the passage of the comparative negligence statute, NRS 41.141, [3] the legislature intended that henceforth the willful or wanton misconduct of a defendant should simply be compared with the contributory negligence of a plaintiff. Appellants, on the other hand, contend that, since the statute does not mention willful or wanton misconduct, there is no basis for concluding that the legislature intended to change the previous rule. We agree with the appellants that, read in light of our previous decisions carefully delineating the concepts of willful and wanton misconduct, the legislature intended to leave such behavior outside the purview of the comparative negligence statute. Nevada's applicable comparative negligence statute, 41.141(1), provided that [i]n any action to recover damages for injury to persons or property in which contributory negligence may be asserted as a defense, the contributory negligence of the plaintiff shall not bar a recovery if the negligence of the person seeking recovery was not greater than the negligence or gross negligence of the person or persons against whom recovery is sought, but any damages allowed shall be diminished in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to the person seeking recovery. (Emphasis added.) Appellants concede that gross negligence by the defendants, if proved, is subject, under the statute, to comparison with decedent's negligence. They contend, however, that willful or wanton misconduct, like conduct intended to cause harm, was not intended to be and should not be made subject to the defense of contributory negligence by the operation of the statute. This court has consistently distinguished the concepts of ordinary or gross negligence from the concepts of willful or wanton misconduct. Gross negligence is manifestly a smaller amount of watchfulness and circumspection than the circumstances require of a prudent man. But it falls short of being such reckless disregard of probable consequences as is equivalent to a wilful and intentional wrong. Ordinary and gross negligence differ in degree of inattention, while both differ in kind from wilful and intentional conduct which is or ought to be known to have a tendency to injury. (Emphasis added.) Hart v. Kline, 61 Nev. 96, 101, 116 P.2d 672, 674 (1941). Wanton misconduct involves an intention to perform an act that the actor knows, or should know, will very probably cause harm. Rocky Mt. Produce v. Johnson, supra, 78 Nev. at 51-52, 369 P.2d at 202. This court has also said: To be wanton such conduct must be beyond the routine. There must be some act of perversity, depravity or oppression. Bearden v. City of Boulder City, 89 Nev. 106, 110, 507 P.2d 1034, 1036 (1973). In light of these decisions, it is clear that the legislature, by the use of the term gross negligence, could not have contemplated that the term would include the distinct concepts of willful or wanton misconduct. See Draney v. Bachman, 138 N.J. Super. 503, 351 A.2d 409 (1976). In the absence of a clear legislative directive, we decline to abrogate the long-standing rule that mere negligence on the part of a plaintiff will not constitute a defense to the wanton or willful misconduct of a defendant. See Ryan v. Foster & Marshall, Inc., 556 F.2d 460 (9th Cir.1977). As respondents have pointed out, courts in several other jurisdictions have reached a different conclusion. We are not persuaded that the results reached apply to the interpretation of the statute before us. In Li v. Yellow Cab Company, 13 Cal.3d 804, 119 Cal. Rptr. 858, 873, 532 P.2d 1226, 1241 (1975), the Supreme Court of California announced, by way of dictum, that henceforth both gross negligence and willful or wanton misconduct would be subject to comparative negligence. The California court, however, having adopted comparative negligence by judicial decision, was not faced, as we are, with the problem of determining legislative intent. In Billingsley v. Westrac Company, 365 F.2d 619 (8th Cir.1966), the court, applying Arkansas law, concluded that willful and wanton negligence, as used by the Arkansas courts, amounted in fact to gross negligence and should therefore be subjected to comparative negligence analysis in order to avoid thwarting the purpose of the statute. In Bielski v. Schulze, 16 Wis.2d 1, 114 N.W.2d 105 (1962), also cited by respondents, the court explicitly dealt only with the concept of gross negligence. As noted in Bielski, id. 16 Wis.2d 1, 114 N.W.2d at 113, [m]uch of what constituted gross negligence will be found to constitute a high percentage of ordinary negligence causing the harm. The conclusion we reach today is consistent with the approach taken by these courts. It is clear that the legislature, by specifically including gross negligence in the terms of the comparative negligence statute, intended to subject such conduct to comparison with a plaintiff's contributory negligence. We agree that conduct amounting to gross negligence should be subject to such comparison in order to be consistent with the legislative purpose. In light of our prior decisions defining willful and wanton misconduct, however, we find it equally clear that such conduct is not equivalent to gross negligence. As noted by V. Schwartz, Comparative Negligence § 5.3 (1974), to the extent that the concepts of willful and wanton misconduct or gross negligence were instituted merely to ameliorate the hardships of the contributory negligence rule, the rationale no longer applies under comparative negligence, but to the extent that they reflect a judgment that the defendant's culpability is so close to intentional wrongdoing that he should not have the benefit of contributory negligence, the basis for the rule is unchanged by a comparative negligence system. We conclude that the legislature, by including the term gross negligence in the comparative negligence statute, has made a determination that the concept of gross negligence is comparable to and subject to comparison with ordinary negligence, but has left the law unchanged with regard to conduct in which the defendant's culpability more closely approaches that of one who intentionally inflicts damage. The evidence in the instant case supports an instruction regarding the willful or wanton misconduct of the respondents. The jury could conclude that the intent of respondents was to administer dangerous quantities of alcohol to Davies within a short period of time. 190 proof alcohol was deliberately chosen to be administered, as it had been on previous occasions, and respondents were fully aware of its nature. Further, they were aware that retention of large amounts of alcohol in the system can be highly dangerous, as an initiate had had to be hospitalized the year before. Despite respondents' protestation that they assumed decedent would not swallow most of the alcohol administered to him, they admitted having no way to determine whether that was so, while continuing to put bottles of liquor to his lips and screaming at him to drink it. Other courts have had no difficulty finding willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct in the furnishing of alcohol in sufficient quantities to cause death, even under less aggravated circumstances. E.g., Ewing v. Cloverleaf Bowl, 20 Cal.3d 389, 143 Cal. Rptr. 13, 572 P.2d 1155 (1978); McCue v. Klein, 60 Tex. 168 (1883). We find that the comparative negligence statute was not intended to abrogate the rule that contributory negligence is no defense to willful or wanton conduct, and that the refusal to give the requested instruction was reversible error.