Hawkeye Security Insurance Co. v. Ford Motor Co.

199 N.W.2d 373, 1972 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 869
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJune 29, 1972
Docket54695
StatusPublished
Cited by60 cases

This text of 199 N.W.2d 373 (Hawkeye Security Insurance Co. v. Ford Motor Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hawkeye Security Insurance Co. v. Ford Motor Co., 199 N.W.2d 373, 1972 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 869 (iowa 1972).

Opinions

REES, Justice.

This is an action which sounds in strict liability by which the plaintiff, Hawkeye Security Insurance Company, seeks indemnity from Ford Motor Company as the assembler of a truck for loss the plaintiff (hereinafter Hawkeye) was required to pay to an insured third party by reason of a judgment against plaintiff’s insured. Defendant, Ford Motor Company, as the assembler of the truck (hereinafter Ford), by cross-petition sued Kelsey-Hayes Company (hereinafter Kelsey-Hayes) for indemnity on four theories in the event Ford was found liable, viz:.

(1) Breach of implied warranty.
(2) Breach of express warranty.
(3) Strict liability.
(4) Negligence.

Hawkeye’s petition and Ford’s theory of strict liability were submitted to a jury which returned a verdict for plaintiff Hawkeye in the amount of $17,749.93, and for Kelsey-Hayes and against Ford on the cross-petition.

The questions presented on appeal are directed at the failure of the court to sustain a motion to direct verdict in favor of Ford, and upon the failure of the court to instruct the jury on all of Ford’s theories in its action over against Kelsey-Hayes.

On May 23, 1964 a 1962 model Ford truck operated by Thomas Kolby and owned by Tri-B Corporation ran into and against the rear of a farm-tractor and trailer owned and operated by one LaVern W. Koppold, causing injuries and property damage. Following the accident, Koppold obtained a judgment against Kolby and Tri-B Corporation in the amount of $20,902.30, which was fully satisfied by [376]*376plaintiff Hawkeye, the insurance carrier of Tri-B Corporation by the payment of $17,500.00 plus costs of $249.33. In the main case, Hawkeye had sought indemnity by, or contribution from, Ford the manufacturer of the truck, and Ford in turn sought indemnity from Kelsey-Hayes, the supplier of the brakes for the truck. A motion for separate trial was filed and sustained.

Hawkeye’s original action against Ford was pleaded in four divisions, viz:

(1) Breach of implied warranty of fitness.
(2) Strict liability in tort.
(3) Active negligence of Ford versus passive negligence of Tri-B Corporation and its employee, Kolby.
(4) Contribution from Ford on the theory Ford’s negligence concurred with the negligence of Tri-B Corporation in causing the damages for which Tri-B (and Hawkeye as its insurer) was eventually held liable.

By ruling on a motion to dismiss the trial court removed from the case the theories of strict liability and the pleaded theory of active versus passive negligence. At the close of plaintiff’s evidence, the court further sustained a motion to direct on the theories of implied warranty and contribution, in effect holding:

(1) That plaintiff was not within the class to which the implied warranty applied.
(2) There was no substantial evidence of breach of implied warranty of fitness or of proximate cause.
(3) There was no substantial evidence of negligence on the part of Ford Motor Company.

On the first appeal involving this case to this court, reported at 174 N.W.2d 672, this court held:

(1)The theory of implied warranty of fitness, and the issue of proximate cause created a jury question and should have been submitted.
(2) There was sufficient evidence to justify submission to the jury on the question of contribution.
(3) The issue of strict liability raised a jury question and should not have been dismissed.
(4) The active versus passive negligence theory was properly dismissed.

Upon retrial of the case in the district court, the petition was amended so as to seek indemnity solely upon the theory of strict liability in tort. Trial to a jury was had and a verdict in the amount of $17,749.33 was returned in favor of Hawkeye, which amount fully indemnified Hawkeye. On Ford’s cross-petition against the supplier of the brakes, Kelsey-Hayes, the jury found for Kelsey-Hayes and against Ford. Ford now appeals from both verdicts.

In its appeal, Ford asserts error in two divisions:

In Division I it asserts this is not a proper case for indemnity, alleging (a) Hawkeye could only seek indemnity by establishing the distinction of primary and secondary liability of the parties; (b) Hawkeye’s liability arose due to the active negligence of its insured, and therefore is not entitled to indemnity since its insured was primarily, and not secondarily, liable; (c) there was no difference in the legal obligation owed to the injured party by the insured and its insurer, which distinction Ford contends is a prerequisite to indemnity; and (d) the jury in the trial of the case of Koppold v. Kolby and Tri-B Corporation found the active negligence of Kolby, Tri-B’s driver, to be a proximate cause of the accident and resulting injuries and damages, and the litigation of that same issue by the trial court in the instant case is barred by the application of the doctrines of res judicata and collateral es-toppel.

[377]*377In Division II of Ford’s brief and argument. it is asserted the trial court erred in not submitting to the jury all the theories pleaded in Ford’s cross-petition against Kelsey-Hayes, namely, breach of express and implied warranties, negligence and strict liability. The trial court submitted only the strict liability theory.

The factual background of the matter now before us is fully set out in the first appeal of this case, reported at 174 N.W.2d 672. For the purposes of this appeal, it is sufficient to say this action sounds solely in strict liability in tort based upon the allegation of Hawkeye that the absence of a “hold-down nut” in the assembly of the brakes on the Ford truck caused the brakes to wear unevenly and resulted in the total failure of the brakes immediately prior to the collision with the rear of the coupled farm tractor and trailer. Such brake failure is alleged to be a proximate cause of the accident, and it is alleged the brakes were in a defective condition when they left the Ford Motor Company assembly plant.

I. We shall first dispose of the contention of Hawkeye that the notice of appeal filed by Ford in this case is defective and that this court does not have jurisdiction of the case. Hawkeye contends the notice of appeal requirements, Rule 336, Iowa Rules of Civil Procedure, were not met.

The notice of appeal in this matter is as follows:

“NOTICE OF APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
TO: HAWKEYE SECURITY INSURANCE COMPANY and PATTERSON, LORENTZEN, DUF-FIELD, TIMMONS and IRISH, Attorneys for Plaintiff
and to:
KELSEY-HAYES COMPANY and AHLERS, COONEY, DOR-WEILER, ALLBEE & HAYNIE, Attorneys fpr Defendant to Cross-Petition

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Bluebook (online)
199 N.W.2d 373, 1972 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hawkeye-security-insurance-co-v-ford-motor-co-iowa-1972.