Court Opinion

ID: 9771298
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:38:46.687375+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:28.264978
License: Public Domain

DONNELLY, Judge,
dissenting.
In Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Whitehead and Kales Co., 566 S.W.2d 466, 469 n. 4 (Mo. banc 1978), this Court said:
By the “principle of fairness” here we mean the promise which is derivative of economic and political freedom and personal physical mobility. That is, in exchange for the opportunity of some undertaking, we each promise all others that we will be liable for the damage which our own negligence in the undertaking has caused. This creates a shared fiduciary obligation for which the principle of fairness is a premise. J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice 348 (1971). This premise is the basis of our fault-based system of tort liability.
The opinion in Whitehead and Kales was a brave attempt to implant Rawls’ principle of fairness in the law of Missouri. But it was not to be.
I respectfully dissent for the reasons stated in Parks v. Union Carbide Corp., 602 S.W.2d 188, 207 (Mo. banc 1980) (Don-nelly, J., dissenting).