Court Opinion

ID: 9660245
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:08:40.880218+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:16.917782
License: Public Domain

DONNELLY, Judge,
concurring.
The principal opinion follows the detour from pure relative fault first taken by the Court’s majority in Maryland Heights v. Ferriss, 588 S.W.2d 489; and I must concur. I do so with an observation admittedly poignant: It is a fact that Rawls’ principle of fairness was excised from Whitehead & Kales as it left the gate. Its progeny rendered it inscrutable before it had a chance to run. In my view, Whitehead & Kales deserved better treatment—it could have fulfilled its promise. See Steinman v. Strobel, 589 S.W.2d 293, 295-297 (Mo. banc 1979) (Donnelly, J., dissenting).
*181BARDGETT, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the principal opinion and write this concurring opinion because the dissenting portion of the opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part misstates the holdings of Missouri Pacific Railroad v. Whitehead & Kales Co., 566 S.W.2d 466 (Mo. banc 1978), Parks v. Union Carbide Corp., 602 S.W.2d 188 (Mo. banc 1980), State ex rel. Victaulic Co. of America v. Meyers, 588 S.W.2d 494 (Mo. banc 1979), State ex rel. Maryland Heights Concrete Contractors, Inc. v. Ferriss, 588 S.W.2d 489 (Mo. banc 1979), and specifically and most importantly State ex rel. Tarrasch v. Crow, 622 S.W.2d 928 (Mo. banc 1981).
In particular, Judge Welliver’s opinion states:
We held in Tarrasch that the plaintiff’s release of one defendant did not prevent the second defendant from seeking contribution from the first.
Slip op. at 183.
It is not uncommon for lawyers and judges to consider statements in opinions ancillary to the principal opinion in a case, i.e., dissents, concurring opinions, and opinions concurring in part and dissenting in part, as somewhat authoritative with respect to a prior holding. The above quotation may well lead judges and lawyers to believe that this Court has held that a party giving a release to a claimant or plaintiff can be brought into the suit by a sued defendant under Whitehead & Kales and become liable to the defendant or defendants who bring the released party into the case for what a jury determines to be the released party’s percentage share in a judgment plaintiff obtains against the other defendants. In short, others may believe that this Court has held that a valid release will not be given effect so as to preclude the released party from setting up the release as a bar to any liability in the case.
This Court did not so hold in Tarrasch or any other case and it would be incorrect for a lawyer in advising his client or a judge in ruling on appropriate motions to so believe.
When this Court issued its preliminary writ in Tarrasch it was thought that the case would squarely present the question whether a released party could be implicated by a defendant for contribution under Whitehead & Kales. When the case was briefed and argued, it appeared that question need not be reached and it was not reached.
In the Tarrasch case, the relator, Dr. Tar-rasch, was an ophthalmologist who treated the underlying plaintiff Kenny Hemphill for an eye injury Hemphill sustained while on a school bus being operated by the underlying defendant McVay when Hemphill was hit in the eye by a ruler thrown by the underlying defendant Durremann, a classmate of plaintiff’s. Hemphill sued McVay, Durremann, and Dr. Tarrasch. McVay and Durremann filed crossclaims against Tar-rasch for apportionment of damages under Whitehead & Kales. Tarrasch entered into an agreement and covenant not to sue with plaintiff Hemphill. The agreement is seven pages long and is summarized at 622 S.W.2d at 936. Tarrasch filed a motion to dismiss the third-party erossclaims of McVay and Durremann contending the agreement precluded him (Tarrasch) from being brought back into the case by anyone, including McVay and Durremann. The trial court indicated it would overrule Tarrasch’s motion to dismiss him from the case and then Tarrasch sought an order from this Court prohibiting the trial court from overruling his motion, contending the trial court had no jurisdiction to do so.
This Court construed the agreement and covenant not to sue in the context of the extraordinary writ of prohibition with respect to whether the trial court would be acting in excess of its jurisdiction if it overruled Tarrasch’s motion to dismiss him from the crossclaims and held that Tarrasch was not entitled to be dismissed under that agreement. This Court stated at 937:
The agreement and covenant not to sue was entered into voluntarily, with able counsel on both sides, and there appears no reason why it should not be enforced. It impairs neither the rights of relator [Tarrasch] nor Durremann, and plaintiff is called upon to do no more than he *182agreed to do. It is a workable settlement arrangement.
The Court also stated, at 937:
We cannot say the trial court does not have jurisdiction to overrule the relator’s motion for summary judgment on the facts before us. Under the agreement and covenant not to sue, which was before the trial court as part of the pleadings, the trial court is not exceeding his jurisdiction if he permits the cross-claim to proceed in light of the agreement reached by relator and plaintiff relative to the disposition to be made of such claims against relator.
The opinion in Tarrasch demonstrates on its face that this Court did not hold that a release obtained by a defendant would not preclude a remaining defendant from joining the released party by way of a third-party petition under Whitehead & Kales. To the contrary, in Tarrasch we gave effect to the agreement Tarrasch entered into with the plaintiff in the underlying damage suit.
Nowhere in Whitehead & Kales did this Court say or imply that a released party could be brought into the case by a nonre-leased defendant and be subject to a contribution judgment, nor was it suggested that “fairness” required any such result. Nor did Whitehead & Kales suggest or imply that a sued defendant be liable to plaintiff for only that limited portion of plaintiff's damages that the percentage of negligence of the sued defendant theoretically caused. To the contrary, it was specifically stated:
In either instance the ability of a plaintiff to sue and ultimately collect judgment against his or her choice of tort-feasor need not be impaired. Plaintiff continues free to sue one or more concurrent tortfeasors as he sees fit and nothing that transpires between them as to their relative responsibility can reduce or take away from plaintiff any part of his judgment. Concurrent or joint tortfeasors not sued by plaintiff, however, may now be brought in by third party practice for a determination in due course of their relative part of the responsibility, if such is the case, for the overall injury and damage to the plaintiff. A jury in the same or separate trial at the discretion of the trial court, § 507.040, RSMo 1969; rule 52.11(a); rule 66.02, should be charged with the responsibility for determining a relative distribution of fault and liability for the damages flowing from a tort, which damages will be, along with a finding of negligence, the predicate to apportionment. The interests of plaintiffs are secure; the interests of joint or concurrent tortfeasors will now be clothed in a rule based upon realism and fairness between them.
566 S.W.2d at 474-75 (emphasis added) (footnote omitted).
The clear impact of Judge Welliver’s opinion in this case is that this Court should abolish the rule of law that a joint or concurrent tortfeasor (Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Roper Corp.) is liable for all of the damages to plaintiff if that tortfeasor’s negligence or fault was a proximate cause of plaintiff’s damages. Although Whitehead & Kales seems to be the authority relied upon for that proposition, the fact is that to do so would be contrary to the explicit holding of this Court in Whitehead & Kales, as set forth supra.
In sum, it is simply incorrect to say that in Tarrasch or any other case this Court has authorized or approved the concept that a defendant may, by third-party petition, under Whitehead & Kales, bring a released party into the suit.