Handrow v. Cox

553 N.E.2d 852, 1990 Ind. App. LEXIS 496, 1990 WL 57576
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 30, 1990
Docket12A04-8906-CV-252
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 553 N.E.2d 852 (Handrow v. Cox) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Handrow v. Cox, 553 N.E.2d 852, 1990 Ind. App. LEXIS 496, 1990 WL 57576 (Ind. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

[854]*854CONOVER, Judge.

Plaintiffs-Appellants Alwin and Eleanor Handrow (the Handrows) appeal the trial court’s judgment entered on a jury verdict in favor of Defendant-Appellee Newton Transportation Co., Inc. (Newton).

We affirm.

The Handrows present two issues for our review. Restated they are whether the trial court erred by:

1. determining the State of Indiana was a nonparty, and
2. refusing to instruct the jury:
a) it could not allocate negligence to the State of Indiana because the State was immune from liability, '
b) any negligence of the driver could not be allocated to the passenger because there was no evidence they were on a joint enterprise, and
c) the driver of a truck has a duty i) not to stop his vehicle on a bridge and ii) to place flares or similar warning devices behind his disabled vehicle.

In December, 1985, Clifford Cox (Cox) was driving Newton’s semi-tractor trailer south on 1-65. The truck skidded on an icy overpass, jackknifed, and ended up across the bridge blocking both southbound lanes. Alwin, driving the Handrows’ automobile with Eleanor, his wife, as a passenger, was unable to stop the automobile while approaching the bridge and collided with the truck. The Handrows were seriously injured.

After suit was filed against Cox, Newton, and the State of Indiana, the trial court granted the State’s motion for summary judgment. The trial court determined the State was a nonparty because it was statutorily immune from suits involving the accumulation of ice and snow on a highway. At trial, Cox was dismissed as a defendant. During the trial, highway employees testified they did everything they could to properly salt the roads. Eleanor testified she exercised no control over her husband while he was driving.

At the trial’s conclusion, the trial court refused to give certain of the Handrows’ tendered instructions. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Newton, the only remaining defendant.

The Handrows appeal.

The Handrows first argue the State of Indiana could not be considered a nonparty to the action because it was statutorily immune, thus the State could not be held liable. During the proceedings, the trial court ruled the State of Indiana was immune from liability pursuant to IND.CODE 34-4-16.5-3. Thereafter, the trial court entered an order stating the State of Indiana was a nonparty in the case.

Pursuant to statute, the State of Indiana was immune from liability under the facts of this case. IC 34-4-16.5-3 provides, in pertinent part:

Sec. 3 A governmental entity or an employee acting within the scope of his employment is not liable if a loss results from: ...
(3) the temporary condition of a public thoroughfare which results from weather;

The question thus remains whether the State may be classified as a nonparty even though it is clearly immune from liability. Under our system of comparative fault, each person who contributes to cause an injury must bear the burden of reparation for that injury in proportion to his share of the total fault. Faust v. Thomas (1989), Ind.App., 535 N.E.2d 164, 165. To comply with this system of fault allocation, an essential part of Indiana’s comparative fault scheme is the nonparty defense. Id., at 166. IC 34-4-33-2 defines a nonparty:

Nonparty: means a person who is, or may be, liable to the claimant in part or in whole for the damages claimed but who has not been joined in the action as a defendant by the claimant. A nonparty shall not include the employer of the claimant.

In 1984, the legislature amended IC 34-4-33-2, the above statute, to include the definition of a nonparty. Prior to this amendment, the original 1983 Comparative Fault Act did not define a nonparty or provide any procedure for use of the non-party defense. Hill v. Metropolitan [855]*855Trucking, Inc. (1987, N.D.Ind.), 659 F.Supp. 430, 432. Rather, the original Act permitted the allocation of fault to an immune party even though there could be no recovery from that party. To the extent such an immune person contributed to the plaintiffs injuries, those injuries were to remain uncompensated. Eilbacher, Comparative Fault & the Nonparty Tortfeasor, 17 Ind.L.R. 903 (1984). This inequity was remedied by the 1984 amendment which defined a nonparty as a person who “is, or may be, liable to the claimant.” Id. Thus, it is clear the legislature intended to remove immune parties from the comparative fault scheme. See also Eilbacher, Nonparty Tortfeasors in Indiana: The Early Cases, 21 Ind.L.R. 413 (1988).

Because the Comparative Fault Act is still in its infancy, there are relatively few Indiana cases which address the specifics of the Act. We found no reported decision addressing this precise issue. We, therefore, look to our federal courts for guidance.

In Hill v. Metropolitan Trucking, Inc., supra, the court held the plaintiffs could not plead certain co-employees as nonparty tortfeasors because none of the co-employees were or could be liable to the plaintiffs. The court found the plaintiffs’ exclusive remedy was based on the Indiana Workmen’s Compensation Act, thus the co-employees were immune from civil liability. Id., at 434. The court thus concluded the co-employees could not be held liable to the plaintiff as nonparties because they did not come within the statutory definition of a nonparty.

In Huber v. Henley (1987, S.D.Ind.), 656 F.Supp. 508, the issue was whether the claimant should be permitted to add the Department of Highways as a nonparty to the action when the claimant failed to file a tort claim notice within the 180-day notice period. In arriving at its conclusion, the court discussed the definition of a nonparty. The court stated a tortfeasor “who enjoys a traditional immunity from suit is not a ‘person who is or may be liable to the claimant’ and cannot, therefore, be a non-party.” Id., at 510. The court further stated a nonparty is “one against whom the plaintiff would have had a right to relief.” Id., at 511.

Furthermore, in Farmers & Merchants State Bank v. Norfolk & Western Railway Co. (1987, N.D.Ind.), 673 F.Supp. 946, Judge Sharp cited with approval the discussions concerning nonparties in both Hill, supra, and Huber, supra. He summarized the cases as holding a person who is immune from suit cannot be a nonparty under Indiana’s Comparative Fault Statute because such a person is not one “who is, or may be, liable to the claimant.” Thus, such a person cannot be considered in the fault distribution process. Farmers & Merchants State Bank, supra, at 948.

We therefore conclude a person who is immune from liability cannot be considered as a nonparty. Thus, the trial court erred in naming the State of Indiana, a statutorily immune entity, as a nonparty.

However, even though the trial court clearly erred in naming the State as a nonparty, we must consider such error harmless. In assessing fault, the jury attributed 70% of the fault to the Handrows, 30% to Newton and 0% to the State.

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553 N.E.2d 852, 1990 Ind. App. LEXIS 496, 1990 WL 57576, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/handrow-v-cox-indctapp-1990.