Court Opinion

ID: 9602754
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:59:35.866324+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:06.339845
License: Public Domain

STEWART, Justice,
dissenting:
I dissent for the reasons stated in my dissent in Sullivan v. Scoular Grain Co., 853 P.2d 877 (Utah 1993). The language of the Liability Reform Act is crystal clear that CCC & T is not a “defendant” under the Act because it is immune from liability and that negligence may be allocated only among parties to the lawsuit, not nonparties such as CCC & T. The legislative history unequivocally demonstrates that the Legislature specifically addressed and rejected the result the majority reached in Sullivan. The Court ignored this, however, and decided the issue on the basis of what it deemed to be good policy.
The Court’s rejection of clear statutory language and unequivocal legislative history will produce serious consequences for the statutory scheme embodied in the Workers’ Compensation Act and/or the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. It appears that the Legislature ought to readdress the issue.