Court Opinion

ID: 9758097
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 23:11:28.646048+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:47.008604
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice,
with whom WATHEN, Justice, joins, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I join in parts I and II of the Court’s opinion. I respectfully disagree, however, with the decision in part III that the verdict should not be reduced by the amount received in settlement from the released defendants. In my view, part III of the Court’s opinion presents an unsound interpretation of 14 M.R.S.A. § 163 (1980).
The Court, at page 842, emphasizes that “the wording of the statute should be accorded its plain, common, and ordinary meaning.” The decision, nevertheless, imparts to the ordinary word “causing” the whole complicated concept of legal causative fault. In addition, the Court creates out of thin air a requirement that the settling defendants be adjudged to have been legally liable for the plaintiffs’ injuries. The Court’s interpretation is contrary to the purpose of section 163 and against the trend of modern authority.
At common law the release of one defendant would release all without regard to intent or satisfaction in fact. Section 163 permits a person who seeks recovery for injury or damage to settle with one potentially liable person without releasing other potentially liable persons. The section recognizes the well established rule that the plaintiff is entitled to only one recovery for his claim. The final sentence, therefore, requires reduction of the verdict against non-settling defendants. The legislation presumes that verdict accurately represents full satisfaction.
Because the final sentence of section 163 prevents excessive recovery by a plaintiff, it should be interpreted to apply to any consideration paid by other persons for a release from the potential liability for the same damages covered by the verdict. Cases such as Theobald v. Angelos, 44 N.J. 228, 208 A.2d 129 (1965), that focus upon the distinction between a pro rata reduction and a pro tanto reduction offer no support to the plaintiffs’ position. In fact, in the context of our proportional contribution approach, they support the defendant’s argument. So, too, does the Restatement Second of Torts § 885(3) (1979) approving a pro tanto reduction on account of payments “made in compensation of a claim for a harm ... whether or not the person making the payment is liable” to the plaintiff.
I would reduce the plaintiffs’ verdicts and affirm the judgments as so modified.