Court Opinion

ID: 9638730
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:52:04.349438+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:09.180351
License: Public Domain

DONNELLY, Judge,
dissenting.
In Anderson v. Cahill, 528 S.W.2d 742, 749 (Mo. banc 1975), Judge Seiler joined me in expressing the view that this Court should consider adopting a “pure” form of comparative fault.
In Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Whitehead and Kales Co., 566 S.W.2d 466 (Mo. banc 1978), this Court embraced a concept of “relative fault.” In State ex rel. Maryland Heights Concrete Contractors, Inc. v. Ferris, 588 S.W.2d 489 (Mo. banc 1979), this Court neutered the Whitehead and Kales holding. As a result, the Bench and Bar of Missouri were left in a state of hopeless confusion.
In Steinman v. Strobel, 589 S.W.2d 293, 295 (Mo. banc 1979), my perception of pure comparative fault was considered and rejected by a majority of this Court.
The dissenting opinion filed in this case by Judge Welliver articulates beautifully the rationale for my dissenting opinion in Steinman, supra. However, pure comparative fault has again been rejected.
I have been given ample opportunity to persuade and have failed. I have no right, in these circumstances, to continue to array my judgment against that of the majority of my brethren on this Court. And, of course, the confusion resulting from the stillbirth in 1978 continues unabated.
, Accordingly, I must conclude, with regret, “that we should overrule Whitehead and Kales and return the law of torts in Missouri to whatever degree of stability existed for the one hundred and fifty years prior that decision.” Steinman, supra, 589 S.W.2d 293, 295 (Welliver, J., concurring).
I respectfully dissent.