State Farm v. Premier Manufactured Systems ( 2007 )

SUPREME COURT OF ARIZONA
En Banc
STATE FARM INSURANCE COMPANIES, ) Arizona Supreme Court
) No. CV-06-0338-PR
Plaintiff/Appellant, )
) Court of Appeals
v. ) Division One
) No. 1 CA-CV 04-0465
PREMIER MANUFACTURED SYSTEMS, )
INC., an Arizona Corporation, ) Maricopa County
) Superior Court
Defendant/Appellee. ) No. CV2001-016394
)
)
) O P I N I O N
__________________________________)
Appeal from the Superior Court in Maricopa County
The Honorable Ruth Harris Hilliard, Judge
AFFIRMED
________________________________________________________________
Opinion of the Court of Appeals, Division One
213 Ariz. 419, 142 P.3d 1232 (App. 2006)
AFFIRMED
________________________________________________________________
THE SITTU LAW FIRM, P.L.L.C. Scottsdale
By John D. Sittu
Attorneys for State Farm Insurance Companies
BAIRD, WILLIAMS, & GREER, L.L.P. Phoenix
By Robert L. Greer
Craig M. LaChance
Attorneys for Premier Manufactured Systems, Inc.
LAW OFFICES OF CHARLES M. BREWER, LTD. Phoenix
By Charles M. Brewer
John B. Brewer
David L. Abney
Dane L. Wood
Attorneys for Amicus Curiae
Law Offices of Charles M. Brewer, Ltd.
HARALSON, MILLER, PITT, FELDMAN & McANALLY, P.L.C. Tucson
By Stanley G. Feldman
And
LAW OFFICE OF JOJENE MILLS Tucson
By JoJene E. Mills
And
ADELMAN GERMAN, P.L.C. Scottsdale
By Daniel J. Adelman
Attorneys for Amicus Curiae
Arizona Trial Lawyers Association
BOWMAN AND BROOKE, L.L.P. Phoenix
By Jeffrey R. Brooke
Thomas M. Klein
Attorneys for Amicus Curiae
Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc.
________________________________________________________________
H U R W I T Z, Justice
¶1 This case requires us to decide whether liability
among tortfeasors in strict products liability actions is joint
and several or several only. We conclude that the legislative
abolition of joint and several liability in 1987 extends to
strict products liability actions. In such cases, liability is
several only and fault must be apportioned among tortfeasors.
I.
¶2 In 2001, an insured of State Farm Insurance Companies
(“State Farm”) discovered that a leak in his water filtration
system had damaged his home and personal property. State Farm
paid the homeowner $19,270.86 to cover the loss.
2
¶3 Premier Manufactured Systems, Inc. (“Premier”)
assembled, packaged, and sold the water filtration system, which
consisted of a series of filters inside plastic canisters linked
by tubing. Worldwide Water Distributing, Ltd. (“Worldwide”)
manufactured the plastic canisters and sold them to Premier. As
subrogee for its insured, State Farm sued Premier and Worldwide,
alleging that each was strictly liable in tort for distributing
a defective product.
¶4 Worldwide failed to respond to the complaint, and the
superior court entered a default judgment against it. In a
subsequent motion for partial summary judgment, State Farm
argued that Worldwide and Premier were jointly and severally
liable for 100% of the homeowner’s damages. Premier argued in
response that under Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) § 12-
2506 (2003) the defendants’ liability was several only and that
the statute required allocation of fault between Premier and
Worldwide. The superior court denied State Farm’s motion.
¶5 State Farm and Premier then entered into a stipulated
judgment, which stated that the leak had been caused by either a
design or manufacturing defect in one of the canisters. The
judgment provided that Worldwide was 75% and Premier 25% at
fault and that Premier was liable to State Farm “only to that
extent” for the damages caused by the leak. Because Worldwide
had gone out of business and had no insurance coverage, State
3
Farm could therefore recover only 25% of its insured’s damages.
The stipulation preserved, for purposes of appeal, State Farm’s
argument that liability of the two defendants should have been
joint and several.
¶6 The court of appeals affirmed, holding that under
§ 12-2506 liability of Premier and Worldwide was several only
and that fault must be allocated between them. State Farm Ins.
Cos. v. Premier Manufactured Sys., Inc., 213 Ariz. 419, 420 ¶ 1,
142 P.3d 1232, 1233 (App. 2006). The court rejected State
Farm’s argument that applying comparative fault principles to
strict products liability actions violated Article 18, Section 6
of the Arizona Constitution. Id. at 426 ¶ 28, 142 P.3d at 1239.
¶7 We granted State Farm’s petition for review because
whether § 12-2506 applies to strict products liability actions
is an issue of statewide importance. See ARCAP 23(c)(3). We
have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5(3) of the
Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 12-120.24 (2003).
II.
¶8 The common law generally imposed joint and several
liability when the conduct of several persons caused a single
injury to a plaintiff. See, e.g., Holtz v. Holder, 101 Ariz.
247, 251, 418 P.2d 584, 588 (1966). In such a case, the
plaintiff could collect his entire damages from any defendant.
Id.; see also 2 Dan B. Dobbs, The Law of Torts § 385, at 1078
4
(2001); W. Page Keeton et al., Prosser & Keeton on the Law of
Torts § 47, at 328-29 (5th ed. 1984). A defendant who paid the
plaintiff’s damages, however, could not seek contribution from
other tortfeasors. Holmes v. Hoemako Hosp., 117 Ariz. 403, 405,
573 P.2d 477, 479 (1977); 2 Dobbs, supra, § 386, at 1078. Thus,
a single defendant could bear the entire burden of the judgment.
¶9 In 1984, the legislature alleviated the common law’s
harshness by adopting the Uniform Contribution Among Tortfeasors
Act (“UCATA”). 1984 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 237, § 1 (codified as
amended at A.R.S. §§ 12-2501 to -2509 (2003)).1 Under UCATA, a
jointly liable defendant “who has paid more than his pro rata
share of the common liability” can seek contribution from other
tortfeasors. A.R.S. § 12-2501(B). This right can be enforced
either in the underlying tort action or in a separate suit for
contribution. Id. § 12-2503(A) & (B). When a defendant seeks
contribution, the finder of fact must apportion liability
according to the relative degrees of fault of each tortfeasor.
Id. § 12-2502(1).
¶10 The 1984 legislation expressly provided that the right
to contribution applied to defendants held strictly liable in
1
The 1984 Arizona bill drew from both the Uniform
Contribution Among Tortfeasors Act of 1955 and the Uniform
Comparative Fault Act of 1977, while also incorporating a number
of provisions unique to Arizona. See Scott Butler, III & G.
David Gage, Comparative Negligence & Uniform Contribution: New
Arizona Law, 20 Ariz. B.J. 16, 17, 34 (1984).
5
tort for distribution of a defective product. Id. § 12-2509(A).
The statute provided that, for purposes of apportioning
liability among such tortfeasors, “the relative degree of fault
of each is the degree to which each contributed to the defect
causing injury to the claimant.” Id. § 12-2509(C).
¶11 The adoption of comparative fault in the 1984 version
of UCATA did not entirely protect defendants from paying more
than their allocated share of a judgment. The legislation did
not alter the common law rule of joint and several liability;
each defendant remained liable to the plaintiff for the entire
amount of the judgment. The right to contribution was thus of
limited or no practical utility if one or more of the
tortfeasors were insolvent or if a judgment for contribution
could not be collected. Under those circumstances, a defendant
who had paid more than his share still absorbed a
disproportionate loss. See Gehres v. City of Phoenix, 156 Ariz.
484, 487, 753 P.2d 174, 177 (App. 1987).2
¶12 The legislature solved this problem in 1987 by
2
UCATA provides for a redetermination of contribution shares
when “all or part of a tortfeasor’s contribution share . . . is
uncollectible from that tortfeasor.” A.R.S. § 12-2508.
Although this provision offers potential partial relief to
defendants held jointly and severally liable, its application
will necessarily result in a defendant paying more than his pro
rata share. And, in cases (such as the one before us) in which
only one defendant is solvent, § 12-2508 offers no relief to the
solvent defendant.
6
amending UCATA to abolish joint and several liability in most
circumstances. 1987 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 1. The 1987
amendment, codified at A.R.S. § 12-2506, establishes a system of
comparative fault, making “each tortfeasor responsible for
paying his or her percentage of fault and no more.” Dietz v.
Gen. Elec. Co., 169 Ariz. 505, 510, 821 P.2d 166, 171 (1991).
Under this system of several-only liability, plaintiffs, not
defendants, bear the risk of insolvent joint tortfeasors.
A.
¶13 State Farm argues that the general abolition of joint
and several liability in 1987 was not intended to apply to
parties strictly liable in tort for distributing a defective
product. We disagree.
¶14 Under A.R.S. § 12-2506(A),
[i]n an action for personal injury, property damage or
wrongful death, the liability of each defendant for
damages is several only and is not joint, except as
otherwise provided in this section.
(Emphasis added.) An action for strict products liability is
clearly one “for personal injury, property damage or wrongful
death.” Therefore, under the plain language of the 1987
enactment, each defendant’s liability in such an action is
several only, subject only to the specific exceptions in § 12-
2506.
¶15 Section 12-2506 provides only three exceptions to the
7
general regime of several-only liability:
The liability of each defendant is several only and is
not joint, except that a party is responsible for the
fault of another person, or for payment of the
proportionate share of another person, if any of the
following applies:
1. Both the party and the other person were acting in
concert.
2. The other person was acting as an agent or servant
of the party.
3. The party’s liability for the fault of another
person arises out of a duty created by the federal
employers’ liability act, 45 United States Code § 51.
Id. § 12-2506(D). State Farm correctly concedes that this case
falls within neither the first nor the third exception.
¶16 State Farm instead relies upon § 12-2506(D)(2), which
imposes joint liability when another person “was acting as an
agent or servant of the party.” This argument, however, suffers
from obvious deficiencies. State Farm does not contend that a
conventional principal-agent or master-servant relationship
existed between Worldwide and Premier. Premier simply purchased
the defective canister from Worldwide and then incorporated it
into its water filtration system. The mere purchase of a
product from a supplier does not establish a master-servant or
principal-agent relationship between the buyer and seller. See
2 Dobbs, supra ¶ 8, § 335, at 910-13, §§ 336-38, at 917-29;
Keeton et al., supra ¶ 8, § 70, at 501-08; Restatement (Third)
of Agency § 1.01 cmts. b & c (2006).
8
¶17 Instead, relying on Wiggs v. City of Phoenix, 198
Ariz. 367, 10 P.3d 625 (2000), State Farm argues that we should
impute an agency relationship between Premier and Worldwide for
purposes of § 12-2506(D)(2). Wiggs involved an automobile
accident in which a car struck and killed the plaintiff’s
teenage daughter as she crossed a Phoenix intersection at dusk.
Id. at 368 ¶ 2, 10 P.3d at 626. The plaintiff’s suit against
the City of Phoenix alleged that improper maintenance of a
streetlight at the intersection caused the accident. Id. at 368
¶ 3, 10 P.3d at 626.
¶18 The City had contracted with Arizona Public Service
(“APS”) to operate and maintain the streetlight at the
intersection. Id. The City named APS as a non-party at fault
under A.R.S. § 12-2506(B). Id.
¶19 This Court held that the City could not escape or
reduce its liability by claiming the tort had been committed by
an independent contractor. Id. at 371 ¶ 15, 10 P.3d at 629.
Rather, because the City had a non-delegable duty to maintain
the streetlight, we concluded that the independent contractor
was effectively an agent of the City, making the City
vicariously liable for any negligence of APS. Id. at 370-71
¶¶ 10, 13, 10 P.3d at 628-29. Thus, the City was responsible
for 100% of any fault allocated to APS. Id. at 371 ¶ 16, 10
P.3d at 629.
9
¶20 The Wiggs doctrine does not avail State Farm. We may
assume, as State Farm argues, that each entity in a chain of
distribution has a non-delegable duty not to distribute a
defective product. See, e.g., Van Buskirk v. Carey Canadian
Mines, Ltd., 760 F.2d 481, 497 (3d Cir. 1985) (stating that
under Pennsylvania law, “the duty to provide a non-defective
product is non-delegable”); Vandermark v. Ford Motor Co., 391
P.2d 168, 170 (Cal. 1964) (holding that a “manufacturer of a
completed product cannot escape liability by tracing the defect
to a component part supplied by another”); Robinson v. Reed-
Prentice Div. of Package Mach. Co., 403 N.E.2d 440, 443 (N.Y.
1980) (noting that a “manufacturer is under a nondelegable duty
to design and produce a product that is not defective”). But in
a strict products liability action, the various participants in
the chain of distribution are liable not for the actions of
others, but rather for their own actions in distributing the
defective product. Jimenez v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 183 Ariz.
399, 402, 904 P.2d 861, 864 (1995) (stating that strict products
liability is established by proof that the product was defective
when it left the defendant’s control, that the defect made the
product unreasonably dangerous, and that the defect proximately
caused the plaintiff’s injuries); O.S. Stapley Co. v. Miller,
103 Ariz. 556, 559-60, 447 P.2d 248, 251-52 (1968) (quoting and
adopting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A (1965)). Thus,
10
the judgment below did not impose vicarious liability on
Premier. Rather, Premier and Worldwide each is liable solely
for its own conduct.
¶21 Indeed, the 1987 amendment of UCATA recognizes this
principle. The types of fault that must be compared to arrive
at an allocation of responsibility for a judgment specifically
include strict liability and products liability:
“Fault” means an actionable breach of legal duty, act
or omission proximately causing or contributing to
injury or damages sustained by a person seeking
recovery, including negligence in all of its degrees,
contributory negligence, assumption of risk, strict
liability, breach of express or implied warranty of a
product, products liability and misuse, modification
or abuse of a product.
A.R.S. § 12-2506(F)(2). In a strict products liability action,
every party in the chain of distribution of a defective product
has committed its own “actionable breach of legal duty.” Fault
is thus found because of what each tortfeasor did on its own –
distribute a defective product – rather than because of its
relationship to other wrongdoers.
1.
¶22 State Farm also argues that A.R.S. § 12-2509
contemplates that joint and several liability remains the rule
in strict products liability actions. That statute provides for
a right of contribution among tortfeasors, including those whose
liability is “based on . . . strict liability in tort or any
11
product liability action.” Id. § 12-2509(A). The statute
further specifies that “[a]mong two or more persons strictly
liable in tort who are entitled to claim contribution against
each other, the relative degree of fault of each is the degree
to which each contributed to the defect causing injury to the
claimant.” Id. § 12-2509(C). State Farm argues that these
provisions would be wholly unnecessary if the liability of
products liability tortfeasors were several only.
¶23 The argument fails to withstand analysis. Section 12-
2509 was enacted as part of the original UCATA in 1984, when
joint and several liability was the rule in all tort cases. The
subsequent 1987 amendment of UCATA, as noted above, abolished
joint liability in all actions except those specified in § 12-
2506(D). Section 12-2509 provides a right of contribution only
when, under the applicable law, two or more tortfeasors are
jointly liable; it does not itself enact a general doctrine of
joint and several liability in strict liability actions or
purport to limit the sweep of the 1987 legislation. See Dietz,
169 Ariz. at 510, 821 P.2d at 171 (“With a few specified
exceptions, contribution will become virtually unnecessary in
actions filed after the effective date of § 12-2506.”).
¶24 Indeed, if we accepted State Farm’s argument, § 12-
2506 would be entirely vitiated. Section 12-2509(A) refers not
only to contribution among tortfeasors in strict liability and
12
product liability actions, but also among “all tortfeasors whose
liability is based on negligence.” A reading of the statute
requiring joint and several liability in all cases covered by
§ 12-2509 would render § 12-2506 a dead letter. Rather, the
only sensible continued application of § 12-2509 is to the
relatively rare situations in which § 12-2506(D) provides for
joint and several liability.3
2.
¶25 State Farm and its amici also argue that the indemnity
provisions in A.R.S. § 12-684 (2003) contemplate the
continuation of joint and several liability in products
liability actions. As an initial matter, this argument suffers
from the same flaw as State Farm’s arguments about § 12-2509;
the indemnification provisions in § 12-684 were first enacted in
1978, and thus can hardly be thought to negate sub silentio the
broad abolition of joint and several liability in 1987.
¶26 More important, as the court of appeals correctly
recognized, the regime of several-only liability does not
conflict with the indemnity statute. State Farm, 213 Ariz. at
425 ¶ 24 & n.9, 142 P.3d at 1238 & n.9. Section 12-684(A)
3
Even after the general abolition of joint and several
liability in 1987, joint and several liability can be imposed in
strict products liability actions under A.R.S. § 12-2506(D)(2)
if the entities in a chain of distribution have a true master-
servant or principal-agent relationship. Contribution would be
allowed under § 12-2509 at least in those situations.
13
provides for a tender of defense by a seller to a manufacturer
in a products liability action. A manufacturer rejecting the
tender must “indemnify the seller for any judgment rendered
against the seller and shall also reimburse the seller for
reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred by the seller in
defending such action,” unless the seller had knowledge of the
defect or engaged in certain unauthorized modifications or
installations of the product at issue. Id. § 12-684(A). The
statutory scheme does not require joint and several liability of
defendants; indemnification is not at all inconsistent with
apportionment of fault under § 12-2506. See
Bridgestone/Firestone N. Am. Tire, L.L.C. v. A.P.S. Rent-A-Car &
Leasing, Inc., 207 Ariz. 502, 511-12 ¶¶ 37-38, 88 P.3d 572, 581-
82 (App. 2004).
3.
¶27 State Farm and its amici also rely heavily upon
opinions from other states holding participants in the chain of
distribution jointly and severally liable for an injury caused
by a product defect. See Wimberly v. Derby Cycle Corp., 65 Cal.
Rptr. 2d 532, 541 (Ct. App. 1997); Owens v. Truckstops of Am.,
915 S.W.2d 420, 432 (Tenn. 1996). These authorities, however,
do not address Arizona’s statutory scheme. Given the explicit
language of our statutes, we find the Tennessee and California
decisions inapposite.
14
¶28 Owens arose after the adoption of comparative fault by
the Tennessee Supreme Court in McIntyre v. Balentine, 833 S.W.2d
52, 56, 58 (Tenn. 1992). After adopting comparative fault as a
matter of common law, the court found good policy reasons to
limit the sweep of the doctrine in strict products liability
actions. Owens, 915 S.W.2d at 432. Although that decision has
much to commend it as a matter of policy, we engage today not in
the development of the common law, but rather in statutory
interpretation. Because our legislature abolished joint and
several liability in all but the situations specifically
enumerated in A.R.S. § 12-2506(D), we are not free to engraft
further exceptions into the law simply because we might favor
them as a matter of policy.4
¶29 In Wimberly, the California court interpreted a
comparative fault statute quite different from § 12-2506. The
California statute did not define “fault” or “comparative
fault,” see Wimberly, 65 Cal. Rptr. 2d at 536, and the court was
thus free to conclude that the law did not require allocation of
fault in strict products liability actions.
¶30 In contrast, our statute specifically includes strict
liability and products liability within the types of “fault”
4
Similarly, Restatement (Third) of Torts: Apportionment of
Liability § 7 cmt. j & § 13 cmt. a (2000), which State Farm
cites, simply set out preferred common law principles and do not
purport to interpret any statute.
15
that must be apportioned by the finder of fact. A.R.S. § 12-
2506(F)(2). As we have previously stated, our statutes do not
“limit the application of comparative fault principles to
negligence theories.” Jimenez, 183 Ariz. at 404, 904 P.2d at
866. Rather, the broad definition of fault in A.R.S. § 12-
2506(F)(2) requires the finder of fact in strict products
liability cases to compare fault among all tortfeasors. See
Zuern v. Ford Motor Co., 188 Ariz. 486, 491, 937 P.2d 676, 681
(App. 1996) (noting that because UCATA “expressly defines
‘fault’ to include ‘strict liability,’ all of the different
types of fault identified in that section, if contributing to
the same injury, must be compared . . . in assessing percentages
of fault”) (citations omitted).
B.
¶31 State Farm and its amici argue that if § 12-2506 is
interpreted to preclude joint and several liability among
defendants in a strict products liability action, the statute
violates Article 18, Section 6 of the Arizona Constitution.
That section provides that
[t]he right of action to recover damages for injuries
shall never be abrogated, and the amount recovered
shall not be subject to any statutory limitation.
1.
¶32 The first clause of Article 18, Section 6, the “anti-
abrogation clause,” protects the right of access to the courts
16
and prevents abrogation of common law tort actions. Cronin v.
Sheldon, 195 Ariz. 531, 538 ¶ 35, 991 P.2d 231, 238 (1999). A
statute that completely abolishes a right of action is by
definition an unconstitutional abrogation. Duncan v. Scottsdale
Med. Imaging, Ltd., 205 Ariz. 306, 314 ¶ 33, 70 P.3d 435, 443
(2003). On the other hand, the legislature is entitled to
regulate common law tort actions. Id. at 313 ¶ 30, 70 P.3d at
442. “We differentiate between abrogation and regulation by
determining whether a purported legislative regulation leaves
those claiming injury a reasonable possibility of obtaining
legal redress.” Boswell v. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., 152 Ariz.
9, 18, 730 P.2d 186, 195 (1986). The legislature may not,
“under the guise of ‘regulation,’ so affect the fundamental
right to sue for damages as to effectively deprive the claimant
of the ability to bring the action.” Barrio v. San Manuel Div.
Hosp., 143 Ariz. 101, 106, 692 P.2d 280, 285 (1984).
¶33 Strict products liability actions are protected by
Article 18, Section 6. Hazine v. Montgomery Elevator Co., 176
Ariz. 340, 344, 861 P.2d 625, 629 (1993). Hazine held
unconstitutional a statute forbidding the filing of a strict
products liability action more than twelve years after the
product was first sold to a consumer even if the injury occurred
years later. Id. at 345, 861 P.2d at 630. Because the statute
could abolish the right of action before an injury had even
17
occurred, it deprived an injured claimant of any possibility of
redress, and thus violated the anti-abrogation clause. Id. at
342, 861 P.2d at 627.
¶34 In contrast, the abolition of joint and several
liability in strict products liability cases does not deprive an
injured claimant of the right to bring the action. Nor does it
prevent the possibility of redress for injuries; the claimant
remains entirely free to bring his claim against all responsible
parties. Thus, § 12-2506 does not on its face violate the anti-
abrogation clause. Cf. Dietz, 169 Ariz. at 511, 821 P.2d at 172(finding no violation of anti-abrogation clause in applying
comparative fault principles in case involving injuries caused
by both the defendant and a statutorily immune employer).
¶35 State Farm and its amici argue, however, that joint
and several liability is so integral to the tort of strict
products liability that instituting several-only liability
effectively abolishes the cause of action. Specifically, they
argue that it is impossible to allocate “fault” in strict
liability actions and that imposition of several-only liability
will effectively deprive claimants of the right to sue
“innocent” sellers in the chain of distribution.
¶36 Nothing in § 12-2506, however, prevents a claimant
from suing all participants in a defective product’s chain of
distribution and obtaining a judgment for the full amount of his
18
damages. Nor does the statute excuse any responsible party from
liability. Under the doctrine of strict products liability, a
defendant breaches its legal duty when it distributes a
defective and unreasonably dangerous product. Torres v.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 163 Ariz. 88, 91, 786 P.2d 939, 942
(1990). A defendant who does so is at “fault” under § 12-
2506(F)(2), and a claimant is entitled to recover against any
such defendant under the statutory regime of several-only
liability. See Daly v. Gen. Motors Corp., 575 P.2d 1162, 1170
(Cal. 1978) (rejecting argument that applying comparative
negligence in strict products liability cases “somehow will
abolish or adversely affect the liability of such intermediate
entities in the chain of distribution” and noting that jurors
are capable of fairly assessing the relative legal
responsibilities of manufacturers and subsequent distributors in
strict products liability actions).
¶37 It may, of course, be difficult in some circumstances
for the finder of fact to allocate statutory fault among the
various participants in the chain of distribution of a defective
product. But this may also often be the case in other contexts.
Notwithstanding the potential difficulty of the task, “[w]e have
no doubt that jurors are capable of evaluating degrees of fault,
and the statute reflects our legislature’s agreement.”
Hutcherson v. City of Phoenix, 192 Ariz. 51, 55 ¶ 21, 961 P.2d
19449, 453 (1998).5
2.
¶38 Nor does our application of several-only liability in
strict products liability cases violate the second clause of
Article 18, Section 6, prohibiting limitations on damages.6 In
Jimenez, we rejected a claim that allowing product misuse as a
form of comparative fault under UCATA violated Article 18,
Section 6. 183 Ariz. at 407, 904 P.2d at 869. In so holding,
5
Indeed, even before the abolition of joint and several
liability, UCATA required that finders of fact allocate fault
among “two or more persons strictly liable in tort” in
determining contribution rights. A.R.S. § 12-2509(C). Section
12-2509(C) defines “the relative degree of fault,” for purposes
of determining contribution among two or more defendants
strictly liable in tort, as “the degree to which each
contributed to the defect causing injury to the claimant.”
Because the parties in this case stipulated to the
allocation of fault between Premier and Worldwide, we have no
occasion today to address the precise standards that should
guide a finder of fact in making fault determinations under
§ 12-2506. See State Farm, 213 Ariz. at 425 ¶ 22, 142 P.2d at
1238 (“[I]t is for the finder of fact to examine and assess the
differing conduct, roles, duties, and responsibilities played by
all the participants in the distribution chain of an allegedly
defective product and to decide, based on these and other
relevant considerations, the degree of fault to allocate to
members of the chain.”).
6
Article 2, Section 31 of the Arizona Constitution prohibits
enactment of any law “limiting the amount of damages to be
recovered for causing the death or injury of any person.” That
provision is not implicated in this case, which involves only a
claim for property damage. Cf. Jimenez, 183 Ariz. at 407 n.10,
904 P.2d at 869 n.10 (noting that the limitation of damage
clause in Article 18, Section 6 and the similar language in
Article 2, Section 31 “must be read together and are intended to
accomplish the same result”).
20
we directly analogized the misuse defense to “instituting a
several-only system of liability,” which we noted “regulates
responsibility for cause rather than limits the damages
recoverable.” Id. (emphasis added). As is true with the misuse
defense, several-only liability does not limit the damages
recoverable, but rather serves “only to limit each defendant’s
liability to the damages resulting from that defendant’s
conduct.” Id.¶39 To be sure, an injured claimant may not be able to
recover the full amount of his damages under a regime of
several-only liability when a defendant is insolvent or full
collection of the judgment against each defendant is not
possible. But as we stated in Jimenez, “almost any statute
dealing with tort actions will affect the amount or potential of
recovery.” Id. at 407-08, 904 P.2d at 869-70. Our Constitution
provides only that a statute cannot limit the “amount
recovered”; it is not a guarantee that the entire judgment will
be collectible from a single defendant or indeed from any of the
responsible parties. Id.III.
¶40 For the reasons above, we conclude that the
legislature abolished joint and several liability for
participants in a defective product’s chain of distribution with
its amendment in 1987 of A.R.S. § 12-2506 and that this statute
21
does not offend Article 18, Section 6 of the Arizona
Constitution. We therefore affirm the judgment of the superior
court and the opinion of the court of appeals.
_______________________________________
Andrew D. Hurwitz, Justice
CONCURRING:
_______________________________________
Ruth V. McGregor, Chief Justice
_______________________________________
Rebecca White Berch, Vice Chief Justice
_______________________________________
Michael D. Ryan, Justice
_______________________________________
W. Scott Bales, Justice
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