Court Opinion

ID: 9743093
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:25:24.621069+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:39.247750
License: Public Domain

CRIPPEN, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
1.
I believe the joint liability issue is the fundamental question on appeal, and I agree with the conclusion of the majority on this topic. Pittsburgh Corning Corp. and Johns-Manville Corp. are jointly liable tortfeasors, and that liability is not altered by respondent’s Pierringer releases to other defendants. Commentators on comparative fault law agree with the conclusion.1
Further, as the majority decides, Johns-Manville Corp. is not a party to this litigation and it is inappropriate to reallocate its obligation under Minn.Stat. § 604.02, subd. 2 (1984). Nor do I believe that the issue of an “uncollectible” obligation has arisen in the case.2
We should not go further. It is premature to decide questions of statutory reallocation of fault, and it is no less premature to decide contribution claims of Pittsburgh Corning Corp. Those issues will properly arise in litigation where Johns-Manville Corp. is a party, and after it is known to what extent its liability exists and to what extent its obligations can be enforced.
Except on a decision to stay a small part of respondent’s judgment (footnote 2), I would affirm the trial court decision.
2.
Additionally, I am not convinced on the merits of conclusions of the majority that joint liability of Pittsburgh Corning Corp. is' cast upon the settling defendants and ultimately upon respondent Hosley, either on theories of reallocation or contribution.
Recognition of joint liability governs the legal relationships among tortfeasors. Also, the liability favors a plaintiff such that he can recover from one tortfeasor for fault attributable to another. Identification of joint liability is recognition of an equity of the injured party that is superior to equities of any tortfeasor.
Thus, in Jack Frost, Inc. v. Engineered Bldg. Components, Co., Inc., 304 N.W.2d 346 (Minn.1981), the plaintiff, 30 percent at fault, was permitted to recover 70 percent of its damages from defendant Hydro-Air, which was 55 percent at fault. Hydro-Air was liable for 15 percent of damages attributed to defendant Engineered Building Components (EBCO), even though EBCO, because its fault was less than plaintiff’s, was not directly liable to plaintiff under Minnesota’s modified comparative fault law. Minn.Stat. § 604.01, subd. 1 (1984). The supreme court said in Jack Frost:
The extent of Hydro-Air’s liability is not affected by the fact that only 55% of the causal negligence was attributed to Hydro-Air. Jack Frost suffered an indivisible injury as a result of its own negligence and that of EBCO and Hydro-Air. Hydro-Air is therefore liable for the en*820tire amount of Jack Frost’s damages diminished, as section 604.01, subd. 1, requires, by 30%, the proportion of causal negligence attributed to Jack Frost.
Id. at 352.
This court agrees that Pittsburgh Corning and Johns-Manville are jointly liable tortfeasors. Respondent learns, however, that benefits under the law are sometimes too slippery to hold. Here the majority reconsiders the equities before a moment passes, and respondent’s superior equity gives way to concern for the plight of the tortfeasor.3
The jury attributed $87,500 damages of respondent to Johns-Manville Corp. Pittsburgh Corning is jointly liable for those damages, but the majority view erases $72,413.79 of respondent’s recovery from Pittsburgh. Respondent, 7 percent at fault, recovers $50,086.21 of $122,500 damages attributed to non-settling defendants.
The issue involves an unresolved conflict of major legal concepts. As against non-settling defendants, the plaintiff expects recovery of his damages “diminished” only “in proportion to the amount of fault attributable” to the plaintiff himself. Minn. Stat. § 604.01, subd. 1 (1984). On the other hand, a non-settling defendant normally “will never pay more than his share, because [under the comparative fault statute] his exposure is limited to his own percentage of causal negligence — exactly his share — attributed to him at trial.” Simonett, Release of Joint Tortfeasors: Use of the Pierringer Release in Minnesota, 3 Wm. Mitchell L.Rev. 1, 18 (1977). See Frey v. Snelgrove, 269 N.W.2d 918, 921 (Minn.1978). These authorities show resolution of the conflicting interests in direct allocation of fault, but they do not address the situation of multiple non-settling defendants and the handling of joint liability of one for the others.
Unless and until a different rule of law is announced by the supreme court or the legislature, I would reject the elusive posture toward joint liability chosen by the majority. Rather, I would turn to existing authority on the resolution of similar equities, the decision in Jack Frost, 304 N.W.2d 346.
The Jack Frost result was costly to the obligated defendant (Hydro-Air). Although held responsible for fault of another defendant, Hydro-Air had no right to recover contribution from that party. Horton v. Orbeth, Inc., 342 N.W.2d 112, 114 (Minn.1984). Similarly, Pittsburgh Coming is a jointly liable tortfeasor that should bear the risks in seeking a judgment against Johns-Manville and collecting on that judgment.
Finally, the majority concludes that Hos-ley’s equities are defeated because of his support for severing Johns-Manville from the case. I disagree.
In Hart v. Cessna Aircraft Company, 276 N.W.2d 166 (Minn.1979), the supreme court held that a defendant must be relieved of the unjust burden to cover the liability of another tortfeasor, a pilot, who was not a party in the lawsuit. The pilot could not be sued for contribution because Hart had previously sued that party and the pilot was found not negligent. Because Cessna, the defendant in the second case, was not heard in the first suit, the supreme court concluded its liability for the pilot’s fault would be unjust and would probably be unconstitutional.
Here Pittsburgh Corning can sue Johns-Manville for contribution and can be heard in that suit. Further, its peril is not the result of a piecemeal strategy unilaterally chosen by the plaintiff. Without severing Johns-Manville, respondent had to indefinitely surrender his right for recovery, perhaps for many years. Moreover, the decision to sever was approved by the trial court.
3.
The trial court correctly adjudicated the joint liability of non-settling tortfeasors. I *821dispute reversal of that decision in this litigation, and I question the rationale for reversal announced by the majority.

. Steenson, Comparative Fault and Loss Reallocation, Minnesota Trial Lawyers, vol. 6, no. 5 (hereafter Steenson), page 27, Illustration Five (1984); Comments to Uniform Comparative Fault Act, § 6, Illustration 11 (1977).

. The trial court decided to stay enforcement of the part (187,500) of Hosley’s judgment against Pittsburgh Corning that constitutes the obligation of Johns-Manville, "to the extent of the maximum amount which could possibly be assessed against plaintiff Patrick Hosley for reallocation pursuant to (§ 604.02, subd. 2).” The court stayed Vnths of $87,500, representing Hos-ley’s percentage of fault. This decision of the trial court was premature.

. The position of the majority is supported by commentators on statutory reallocation. The plaintiffs risk of losing the part of an uncollecti-ble obligation attributed to settling defendants is endorsed by Steenson and in Uniform Comparative Fault Act comments. See footnote 1.