Court Opinion

ID: 9530197
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:58:06.446333+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:01.412474
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Justice,
specially concurring.
I agree that the case was not ripe for the entry of summary judgment on any of the theories of liability asserted by Northern Utilities Division of K N Energy, Inc. (NUD) against the Town of Evansville (Town). I join in the reversal of the summary judgment entered in favor of the Town.
I am not persuaded, however, that the right of NUD to contribution “rests upon the question of whether NUD and the Town are joint tort-feasors.” Maj. at 833. The authority for that proposition is drawn from Garner v. Hickman, 709 P.2d 407 (Wyo.1985), and I find that case doubtful authority when it is recognized that the Gamers’ action against Hickman was for breach of contract, and their action against the Sundance State Bank was for fraud, bad faith, and unfair dealing. The legal theories asserted against the two defendants in that case were not such as to allege “the same injury to * * * property” so as to structure a right of contribution by Garner against the bank pursuant to Section 1-1-110, W.S.1977, (right to contribution among joint tortfeasors) repealed ch. 24 § 2, Wyo.Sess.Laws (1986).
I prefer to analyze the right to contribution under the statutory language then in effect which read:
“(a) Except as otherwise provided in W.S. 1-1-110 through 1-1-113, where two (2) or more persons become jointly or severally liable in tort for the same injury to person or property or for the same wrongful death, there is a right of contribution among them even though judgment has not been recovered against all or any of them.” § l-l-HO(a), W.S.1977. ■
The record, as the majority explains, amply demonstrates the potential for this situation to fit within the statute. We are not called in this case, any moré than we were in Gamer, to become involved in a discussion of whether the operation of the statute would be limited to those who are joint tort-feasors as defined in Black’s Law Dictionary.
I am in accord that the summary judgment against Central Contractors Co., Inc. must be affirmed.