Court Opinion

ID: 9544856
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:02:33.494597+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:13:43.213413
License: Public Domain

Rosellini, J.
(concurring) — To understand the problems raised by the issues in this case, we must examine Davis v. Niagara Mach. Co., 90 Wn.2d 342, 581 P.2d 1344 (1978).
In 1924, Niagara Machine manufactured a punch press which was sold in 1925. The machine was capable of performing numerous operations and no all-inclusive guard could properly protect the operator from all the possible dangers associated with its use. The machine was sold without a guard with the expectation that it would be equipped by the purchaser to safely perform the particular task required of it.
The employer purchased the punch press second- or third-hand in 1950. In 1971, Martin, an employee, was injured when he tripped the foot pedal which activates the machine, while his hands were in the cutting die area. An action brought by Martin against Niagara was settled.
Following that settlement, Niagara sent a letter to the employer informing it of the Martin lawsuit. The letter advised that certain operations should not be performed on the machine unless a point of operation guard was in place, and requested that enclosed warning tags be placed on the press. The tags read:
Warning
To prevent serious bodily injury
Never place any part of your body under the slide (ram) or within the die area unless power is off, flywheel is stopped and the slide (ram) is blocked up.
Never operate, install dies or maintain this machine without proper instruction and without first reading and understanding the operator's or machine manual.
*890It is the employer's responsibility to implement the above and also to provide proper dies, guards, devices or means that may be necessary or required for any particular use, operation, set-up or service.
Niagara, at 344.
The employer did not install a point of operation guard, but did attach one of the tags to the press on which Martin had been injured. The employer also requested additional tags, which Niagara supplied.
In 1975, Davis, another employee, injured the fingers of his left hand on the same press and in much the same way as had Martin. Davis applied for and received workers' compensation under the Industrial Insurance Act. He then brought an action against Niagara asserting that the press was unsafe and designed in a dangerously defective manner.
The court refused to allow the punch press manufacturer who had been sued by the worker to sue the worker's employer for contributions. The court said that before that could occur, the Legislature would have to act.
In 1981, the Legislature enacted the tort products liability reform act, Laws of 1981, ch. 27. The Preamble to the act states:
Tort reform in this state has for the most part been accomplished in the courts on a case-by-case basis. While this process has resulted in significant progress and the harshness of many common law doctrines has to some extent been ameliorated by decisional law, the legislature has from time to time felt it necessary to intervene to bring about needed reforms such as those contained in the 1973 comparative negligence act.
The purpose of this amendatory act is to enact further reforms in the tort law to create a fairer and more equitable distribution of liability among parties at fault.
Of particular concern is the area of tort law known as product liability law. Sharply rising premiums for product liability insurance have increased the cost of consumer and industrial goods. These increases in premiums have resulted in disincentives to industrial innovation and the development of new products. High *891product liability premiums may encourage product sellers and manufacturers to go without liability insurance or pass the high cost of insurance on to the consuming public in general.
It is the intent of the legislature to treat the consuming public, the product seller, the product manufacturer, and the product liability insurer in a balanced fashion in order to deal with these problems.
It is the intent of the legislature that the right of the consumer to recover for injuries sustained as a result of an unsafe product not be unduly impaired. It is further the intent of the legislature that retail businesses located primarily in the state of Washington be protected from the substantially increasing product liability insurance costs and unwarranted exposure to product liability litigation.
Section 12(1) provides, in pertinent part:
A right of contribution exists between or among two or more persons who are jointly and severally liable upon the same indivisible claim for the same injury, death or harm, whether or not judgment has been recovered against all or any of them. . . . The basis for contribution among liable persons is the comparative fault of each such person.
Under the Niagara case, there was no incentive or motivation for the employer to protect the worker by placing guards on the machine. Any injury that the worker suffered would be paid by the manufacturer of the machine, assuming he was sued by the employee. The employer's time loss experience would not be increased, as the Industrial Insurance Act provides that if any compensation is received by an employee from a third party, there must be reimbursement to the Department of Labor and Industries. The employer, under these circumstances, is not deterred from using unsafe machines, as he could expect injuries to be compensated by the machine's manufacturer.
I am here concerned with the safety of workers and to prevent workers being subject to any risk of injury. While some courts have extended the right of contribution to permit actions against employers (see Skinner v. Reed-Pren*892tice Div. Package Mach. Co., 70 Ill. 2d 1, 374 N.E.2d 437 (1978); Dole v. Dow Chem. Co., 30 N.Y.2d 143, 282 N.E.2d 288, 331 N.Y.S.2d 382 (1972); Maio v. Fahs, 339 Pa. 180, 14 A.2d 105 (1940)), this court has interpreted the statute as encompassing no right to contribution from an employer.
Under the Niagara case the manufacturer would be liable indefinitely. There is no statute of limitations, and the manufacturer can only escape liability by going bankrupt.
Section 7 of the 1981 act provides that a manufacturer would not be liable after the product's "useful safe life" had expired. Section 7(2) states that "[i]f the harm was caused more than twelve years after the time of delivery, a presumption arises that the harm was caused after the useful safe life had expired." This gives a manufacturer some protection.
It appears to me that, in reading the Preamble to the tort liability act with the above section and section 12(1), it can be interpreted that the Legislature was intending to ameliorate the evils of the Niagara case.
This being a case of first impression and not knowing exactly what the consequences would be if the court changed its rule in regard to an action for contributions against the employer, I will reluctantly adhere to the rule of the majority. However, I am not willing to adhere to our past rulings under the circumstances of Niagara, where employers are warned of unsafe machines and continue to use them, or where the Department of Labor and Industries fails to "red tag" the machine so it cannot be used unless safeguards are installed. I am unwilling to adhere to a rule of law which may result in an unsafe workplace or cause injury to a worker.
Reconsideration denied February 10, 1983.