Court Opinion

ID: 9637184
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:00:01.294774+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:54.302483
License: Public Domain

MONTEMURO, Justice,
dissenting.
Because I cannot fathom how the words “any and all liability” can be determined to be words of general import in one case, and words of precision in another, I dissent.
As the majority correctly notes, an exculpatory clause will be valid where three conditions are satisfied: (1) the clause does not violate any public policy; (2) the contract relates entirely to the private affairs of the parties; and (3) the contract is not a contract of adhesion to which one party simply adheres to a contract because he has no power to alter it. Kotwasinski v. Rasner, 436 Pa. 32, 258 A.2d at 865 (1969). Even if the clause is determined to be valid, four other conditions must be fulfilled, in order to effectively relieve a party from liability. First, we require that contracts providing for immunity from liability for negligence be construed strictly since they are not favorites of the law. Id. at 39, 258 A.2d at 868. Secondly, such contracts must spell out the intention of the parties with the greatest particularity, and show the intent to release from liability beyond doubt. Id. No inference from words of general import can establish such *476an intent. Id. Next, such contracts must be construed against the party who seeks immunity from liability. Id. Finally, the burden to prove immunity is placed upon the party who is seeking to avoid liability. Id.
The foregoing conditions have been required and applied by this court consistently, over a long period of time, without variation, both to exculpatory clauses, See e.g., Kotwasinski v. Rasner, 436 Pa. 32, 258 A.2d 865, Dilks v. Flohr Chevrolet, Inc., 411 Pa. 425, 192 A.2d 682 (1963), Employers Liability Assurance Corporation v. Greenville Business Men’s Association, 423 Pa. 288, 224 A.2d 620 (1966), and Princeton Sportswear Corporation v. H & M Associates, 510 Pa. 189, 507 A.2d 339 (1986); and to indemnity clauses; Perry v. Payne, 217 Pa. 252, 66 A. 553 (1907), Pittsburgh Steel Co. v. Patterson-Emerson-Comstock, Inc., 404 Pa. 53, 171 A.2d 185 (1961), and Ruzzi v. Butler Petroleum Co., 527 Pa. 1, 588 A.2d 1 (1991).
Instantly, all parties agree that the exculpatory clause in question is valid; however, its enforceability is questioned. The controversy hinges on whether the clause is sufficiently precise to be enforceable, or whether it uses words of general import. If the clause is determined to contain words of general import, it will not be enforced.1 If, however, we determine that the words “any and all liability” are not words of general import, it will be enforced.
In reaching its conclusion that the clause is enforceable in the instant case, the majority relied on Cannon v. Bresch, 307 Pa. 31, 160 A. 595 (1932). In Cannon, this court held that the *477words “any and all” were very specific and broad enough to cover liability for negligence. While Cannon admittedly involved the interpretation of an exculpatory clause like the one involved in this case, the continuing validity of Cannon has been eroded over the years. A number of Superior Court and federal court decisions have implicitly questioned the continuing validity of Cannon. See e.g., Richard’s 5 & 10 v. Brooks Harvey Realty Investors, 264 Pa.Super. 384, 399 A.2d 1103 (1979), Lincoln Pulp & Paper Co., Inc. v. Dravo Corporation, 436 F.Supp. 262 (1977) (interpreting Pennsylvania law), and Neville Chemical Company v. Union Carbide Corporation, 422 F.2d 1205 (3rd Cir.1970).
More important, just two years ago, this court in Ruzzi v. Butler Petroleum Company, 527 Pa. 1, 588 A.2d 1 (1991), held that the words “any and all liability” in an indemnity contract were words of general import and were not broad enough to cover liability for negligence. The majority in Ruzzi2 held that
We must assume that the parties knew that the law gives to the words used herein a specific meaning and that the words, therefore, must be interpreted in their legal sense. We must also assume that the parties wrote this agreement in conformity to these well established rules of contract construction. That being the case, we conclude that the only intent that can be gleaned from this document is that the parties did not intend to indemnify for acts of the indemnitee’s negligence, since words of general import are used. We can discern no reason to abandon the Perry rule of contract interpretation which is still a valuable rule of construction, rooted in reason and authority and reject Butler Petroleum’s contrary arguments.
*478Ruzzi, 527 Pa. at 9, 588 A.2d at 5. See also, Employers Liability Assurance Corporation v. Greenville Business Men’s Association, 423 Pa. 288, 224 A.2d 620.
Rather than apply this recent holding to the instant case, the majority chooses to apply the 1932 holding in Cannon. In support of this decision, the majority notes that Cannon, like the instant case, dealt with an exculpatory clause while Ruzzi dealt with an indemnity clause. Although I am cognizant of the several differences between exculpatory clauses and indemnity clauses, the nature of these clauses is so similar that the rules of law applicable to one should be applicable to the other. In fact, the rules of construction, as outlined above, applied to determine the validity and enforceability of exculpatory and indemnity clauses are identical. That is, both clauses must be construed strictly against the drafter, must spell out the intention of the parties with great particularity without the use of words of general import, and the burden to prove immunity is placed upon the party seeking to avoid liability. As this court has previously stated
while an exculpatory clause — which deprives one contracting party of a right to recover for damages suffered through the negligence of the other contracting party — differs somewhat from an indemnity clause — which effects a change in the person who ultimately has to pay the damages — yet there is such a substantial kinship between both types of contracts as to render decisions dealing with indemnity clauses applicable to decisions dealing with exculpatory clauses, and vice versa.
Dilks, 411 Pa. at 435, n. 11, 192 A.2d at 687.
Consequently, I agree with the Superior Court and would apply the more recent rationale of Ruzzi to this case. If the words “any and all liability”, examined under identical standards, are words of general import in Ruzzi, then they are words of general import in this case as well. I simply cannot understand why the same words, interpreted under the same standards, can be sufficiently precise in one case, yet be words of general import in another. The law on exculpatory clauses has not been static since Cannon. There has been a trend in *479the cases which disfavors the liberal interpretation of these clauses given in Cannon. The Ruzzi decision is more consistent with the general rule of contract interpretation which requires contracts to be construed strictly against the drafter, and which disfavors contracts providing for immunity of parties from their own negligent acts. To protect itself from liability, all a lessor needs to do is to expressly stipulate in a contract of its own making that it will be relieved of responsibility for damages “caused by or resulting from the negligence of the lessor.” Jacob Siegel Co. v. Philadelphia Record Co., 348 Pa. 245, 246, 35 A.2d 408, 409 (1944). Accordingly, I dissent and I would affirm the decision of the Superior Court.
LARSEN, J., joins this dissent.

. As Judge Beck noted in her majority opinion for the Superior Court: The reason the law looks with disfavor on exculpatory clauses is that they excuse defendants from maintaining reasonable standards of care. Restatement (Second) of Contracts Section 195, comments a and b (1981); Annotation, Validity of Exculpatory Clause in Lease Exempting Lessor from Liability, 49 A.L.R.3d 321, 325 (1973). Under such clauses defendants may be negligent with impunity. Because generally the law seeks to discourage negligence and because generally the law requires that wrongdoers be liable for their wrongful acts, the validity and enforceability of exculpatory clauses are interpreted in a limiting fashion and the language is strictly construed against the clause’s author.
Topp Copy Products, Inc. v. Ernest Singletary, 404 Pa.Super. 459, 591 A.2d 298 (1991).

. The indemnity clause that was being interpreted in Ruzzi was as follows:
[The Zinsers] ... exonerate, discharge, and agree to protect and save harmless and indemnify [Butler Petroleum] ... from any and all liability for claims for loss, damage, injury or other casualty to persons or property ... caused or occasioned by any leakage, fire, explosion or other casualty occurring through any imperfection in, injury or damage to, or by reason of the installation, use, operation and/or repair of the said equipment or of the premises.