Court Opinion

ID: 9528241
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:38:39.70868+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:26:36.714663
License: Public Domain

DENECKE, C. J.,
concurring.
I concur in the majority opinion. I write specially to state another reason for concurring.
In the last 35 years, as the legislatures and the courts provided for recovery for more persons who were injured and the amount of recoveries increased, those required to pay these more frequent and larger recoveries increasingly sought reimbursement for their losses. The *922already recognized remedy of indemnity was tried as a reimbursement device. It worked. The decision in Ryan Stevedoring Co., v. Pan-Atlantic SS. Corp., 360 US 124, 76 S Ct 232, 100 L Ed 133 (1956), caused an all out exploitation of indemnity which clogged the dockets of the federal courts. See S Rep No 1125, 92d Cong, 2d Sess 9 (1972). The popularity of indemnity spread rapidly from the Ryan context of shipowner versus stevedore to other areas such as products liability.
In the m aritime area, the havoc created by indemnity litigation was brought to the attention of Congress. In 1972 it amended the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Act. 33 USCA § 905. One purpose of the amendments was to curtail the indemnity litigation between shipowner and stevedore. Gorman, The Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act - After the 1972 Amendments, 6 Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce, 1, 22 (1974).
In the maritime area most of the would-be indemnitors and indemnitees are liability insurance companies. I have no statistics; however, experience causes me to believe that in other areas in which indemnity is commonly sought, the real parties in interest are insurers or other kinds of persons who have a large base from which to secure reimbursement for their losses; that is, insurance premium payers, customers, etc.
At this time of extreme court congestion I am of the opinion that courts should not seek to extend the scope of indemnity in order to allocate losses between parties who can otherwise widely distribute their losses.
Fqrty years ago Fleming James wrote criticizing the movement to abolish or limit the rule prohibiting contribution among joint tortfeasors. Contribution Among Joint Tortfeasors, 54 Harv L Rev 1156 (1941). He stated:
"* * * Of course, insurance companies and self-insurers are fully as much entitled to be shielded from the hardships of injustice as individuals are, but the actual operation of the present rule is very different in its effect upon them because each company of this kind is a constant litigant. As among these perennial defendants it is inevitable that claims for contribution will cancel out in the long run. * * *.” 54 Harv L Rev at 1168.
*923Similarity, the insurers and self-insurers who are would-be indemnitors or indemnitees are perennial litigants and their claims for indemnity and efforts to avoid indemnity "will cancel out in the long run” and the time and expense of the courts should not be used to allot losses between them.