Court Opinion

ID: 9851355
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:11:09.83951+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:54.329841
License: Public Domain

ROONEY, Justice,
concurring.
I agree with that said in the majority opinion. The result is affirmance of the finding by the trial court of “no negligence by Chen or plaintiffs or, if they were negligent, it was not a proximate cause of the damages,” and a determination that negligence was not established on the part of Reiman. Liability is left with Deines and with Volk & Harrison.
Reiman need no longer be concerned, but one of the issues it presented on appeal in Case No. 85-39 was whether or not the court erred in failing to determine specific percentages of negligence. I believe this should have been done, and that it should be done on remand insofar as Deines on the one hand and Volk & Harrison on the other hand are concerned.
In my dissenting opinion in Kirby Building Systems v. Mineral Explorations Company, Wyo., 704 P.2d 1266 (1985), I pointed out the inconsistency and inequity resulting from the Comparative Negligence Statute, § 1-1-109, W.S.1977, and the Contribution Among Joint Tortfeasors Act, §§ 1-1-110 through 1-1-113, W.S.1977. Aside from that, the contribution among joint tortfeasors is according to their relative degrees of fault. In this case, after Hiller recovers damages from Deines or from Volk & Harrison, or from both, the two tortfeasors will have a problem with contribution unless the trial court determines their specific degrees of negligence. I would direct the trial court to do so.