Court Opinion

ID: 9855960
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:34:55.711156+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:37:19.744835
License: Public Domain

MESCHKE, Justice,
concurring.
I hesitantly concur in the result. I write separately to express my reservations.
I did not join in the opinion, but only concurred in the result, in Clary, 389 N.W.2d 347 (N.D.1986), because I was uneasy about the reach of its reasoning. I joined in the later decision in Kelsh, 388 N.W.2d 870 (N.D.1986), as controlled by the result in Clary, but my uneasiness about the Clary explanation has continued and is now acute.
Clary, supra, and this decision treat the Bureau’s “subrogation interest” as an entitlement in every event. Thus, Justice VandeWalle characterizes it as “the Bureau’s subrogation rights ” at several points in his opinion. Compare that characterization to the more moderate term in the statute itself identifying “[t]he bureau’s subrogation interest.” The statute does not say that “the fund shall be entitled, ...” but only says that “[t]he fund shall be subrogated....”
If the legislature had intended a right, I doubt that the equitable concept of subro-gation would have been used in the statute. See N.D.C.C. § 1-02-02 (“Words used in any statute are to be understood in their ordinary sense, unless a contrary intention plainly appears, ...”) and § 1-02-03 (“Technical words and phrases and such others as have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law, ... shall be construed according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning or definition.”)
Many decisions have described subrogation as an equitable doctrine, rather than as a right. Some examples: Olin Corporation (Plastics Division) v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 14 Pa. Cmwlth. 603, 324 A.2d 813, 816 (1974), (“The right of subrogation is based upon considerations of equity and good con-science_”); Jenks Hatchery, Inc. v. Elliott, 252 Or. 25, 448 P.2d 370, 373 (1968), (“Subrogation is a device adopted by equity to compel the ultimate discharge of an obligation by him who in good conscience ought to pay it.”); Federal Land Bank of Baltimore v. Joynes, 179 Va. 394, 18 S.E.2d 917, 920 (1942), (“This doctrine is not dependent upon contract, nor upon privity between the parties; it is the creature of equity, and is founded upon principles of natural justice.... ‘Subrogation not being a matter of strict right, but purely equitable in its nature, dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each particular case, no general rule can be laid down which will afford a test in all cases for its application.’ ”); Gerken v. Davidson Grocery Co., 57 Idaho 670, 69 P.2d 122, 126-127 (1937), (“ ‘The doctrine of subrogation is not administered as a legal right, but the principle is applied to subserve the ends of justice and to do equity.’ In Richardson v. American Surety Co., 97 Okl. 264, 223 P. 389, 392, the court said: ‘The principle to be derived from the doctrine of subrogation is that it is born of equity, and results from *99the natural justice of placing the burden where it ought to rest. It does not flow from any fixed rule of law, but rather from principles of justice, equity, and benevolence. It is a purely equitable result, depending, like other equitable doctrines, upon the facts and circumstances of each particular case to call it forth. It is a device adopted or invented by equity to compel the ultimate discharge of a debt or obligation by him, who in good conscience ought to pay it.’ ”); Martin v. Hickenlooper, 90 Utah 150, 59 P.2d 1139, 1140 (1936), (“In the first place, it is a purely equitable doctrine borrowed from the civil law.... Says the court in Kent v. Bailey, 181 Iowa 489, 164 N.W. 852, 853: ‘The books agree that subrogation is not founded on contract or privity or strict suretyship, but is born of equity, and results from the natural justice of placing the burden where it ought to rest. The remedy depends upon the principles of justice, equity, and benevolence to be applied to the facts of the particular case. It is of equitable origin, adopted to compel the ultimate discharge of a debt or obligation by him who in good conscience ought to pay it.' ”)
Thus, I cannot join in an opinion which treats the equitable concept of “subrogation” as an “entitlement.” Where a claimant’s reduced recovery is attributable to his own contributory negligence, as in Clary, supra, and in Kelsh, supra, I have no difficulty in enforcing the Bureau’s subro-gation “interest.” I agree that the claimant’s conduct should not affect the Bureau’s subrogation interest. But, where the claimant’s reduced recovery is ordained by another statute, I would prefer to construe the two statutes together. N.D.C.C. § 1-02-07 (“... the two shall be construed, if possible, so that effect may be given to both provisions, ...”). I anticipate that the passage of Ch. 404, 1987 N.D. Sess. Laws, making significant changes in tort law about comparative fault and liability for damages, may bring about a number of instances where the Bureau’s subrogation interest must be weighed and construed with the impact of other enactments. See N.D.C.C. § 32-03.2-01 through § 32-03.2-12 (Supp.1987).
I cannot agree that “[t]he reason that a recipient secures only a partial recovery against the third-party tortfeasor is imma-terial_” Reason is the core of any equitable concept, and ought to direct the application of an equitable doctrine like “subrogation.”
In this case, a majority of this court has chosen to maintain the subrogation interest of the Bureau over the interests of injured claimants impaired by an immunity not of their making. I hesitate to call that equitable because it suggests a regression to a totalitarian view of the role of government that once reigned: “The King can do no wrong,” or at least no big wrong. See Kitto v. Minot Park District, 224 N.W.2d 795 (N.D.1974). If there is justification for this result, it must be in the settlement by the claimants, accepting partial damages for their injuries rather than litigating the full responsibility of the third-party wrongdoer, however fruitless that may have appeared. Since the subrogation statute does declare that the “bureau’s subrogation interest may not be reduced by settlement,” I hesitantly concur.