Court Opinion

ID: 9538800
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:41:53.704317+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:10.284311
License: Public Domain

ZIMMERMAN, Chief Justice,
dissenting:
I dissent from the majority’s conclusion that the release agreement is ambiguous. As the majority recognizes, releases are contractual and should be read according to well-developed rules of contract interpretation. See Simonson v. Travis, 728 P.2d 999, 1001-02 (Utah 1986). However, the majority’s holding that a court may consider extrinsic evidence in determining whether a contract is ambiguous unjustifiably departs from established Utah precedent.
This court has repeatedly and consistently held that a court may not consider extrinsic evidence in interpreting a contract without finding, as a preliminary matter, that the contract is ambiguous on its face. As we stated in Faulkner v. Farnsworth, 665 P.2d 1292 (Utah 1983):
When a contract is clear on its face, extraneous or parol evidence is generally not admissible to explain the intent of the contract. But when a contract is ambiguous, because of the uncertain meaning of terms, missing terms, or other facial deficiencies, parol evidence is admissible to explain the parties’ intent. Whether an ambiguity exists is a question of law to be decided before parol evidence may be admitted.
Id. at 1293 (emphasis added) (citations omitted); accord Winegar v. Froerer Corp., 813 P.2d 104, 108 (Utah 1991); Fitzgerald v. Corbett, 793 P.2d 356, 358 (Utah 1990); Winegar v. Smith Inv. Co., 590 P.2d 348, 350 (Utah 1979); see also Plateau Mining Co. v. Utah Div. of State Lands & Forestry, 802 P.2d 720, 725 (Utah 1990) (“Parol evidence is generally not admissible to explain the intent of a contract which is clear on its face.”); Ron Case Roofing & Asphalt Paving, Inc. v. Blomquist, 773 P.2d 1382, 1385 (Utah 1989) (“The use of extrinsic evidence is permitted only if the document appears to incompletely express the parties’ agreement or if it is ambiguous in expressing that agreement.”); Atlas Corp. v. Clovis Nat’l Bank, 737 P.2d 225, 229 (Utah 1987); Union Bank v. Swen*271son, 707 P.2d 668, 665 n. 1 (Utah 1985); Rice, Melby Enters., Inc. v. Salt Lake County, 646 P.2d 696, 698 (Utah 1982); Williams v. First Colony Life Ins. Co., 593 P.2d 534, 536 (Utah 1979); Big Butte Ranch, Inc. v. Holm, 570 P.2d 690, 691 (Utah 1977); E.A. Strout W. Realty Agency, Inc. v. Broderick, 522 P.2d 144, 145 (Utah 1974).
In a clear departure from this long-standing rule, the majority concludes that even if a ■written contract contains no facial deficiencies which render the contract ambiguous, a court may find ambiguity by reference to extrinsic evidence. It is only this departure that enables the majority to consider extrinsic evidence, find ambiguity in the release agreement, and then reach its preferred result.
In State v. Menzies, 889 P.2d 393, 399 (Utah 1994), this court explained that under the doctrine of stare decisis, it “ “will follow the rule of law which it has established in earlier cases, unless clearly convinced that the rule was originally erroneous or is no longer sound because of changing conditions and that more good than harm will come by departing from precedent.”’ Id. (quoting John Hanna, The Role of Precedent in Judicial Decision, 2 Vill.L.Rev. 367, 367 (1957)).
Because the majority has not expressed, and I cannot conceive of, any legitimate reason to overrule this court’s settled precedent on this issue, I would not consider extrinsic evidence to make the ambiguity determination in the instant case. Without considering extrinsic evidence, I find the release agreement to be clear and unambiguous.
The release agreement holds IFA harmless from “any and all damages caused by the spraying of my approximate nineteen acres of safflower.” (Emphasis added.) Ward contends that the phrase “of safflower” creates a question of whether he was releasing IFA from damages done to the safflower or damages done to the field. I disagree. The prepositional phrase “of safflower” does nothing more than identify the particular act of spraying that gave rise to IFA’s potential liability. The release agreement does not hold IFA harmless from damage to the safflower crop — it holds IFA harmless from any and all damages arising as a result of the spraying of the field.
Because the release agreement is clear and unambiguous, I would hold that the trial court did not err when it refused to allow the introduction of extrinsic evidence to vary the terms of the agreement. I would affirm the judgment of the district court.