Ogden v. J.M. Steel Erecting, Inc.

31 P.3d 806, 201 Ariz. 32, 348 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 49, 2001 Ariz. App. LEXIS 89
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedMay 31, 2001
Docket1 CA-CV 00-0260
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 31 P.3d 806 (Ogden v. J.M. Steel Erecting, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ogden v. J.M. Steel Erecting, Inc., 31 P.3d 806, 201 Ariz. 32, 348 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 49, 2001 Ariz. App. LEXIS 89 (Ark. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

GARBARINO, Judge.

¶ 1 The pivotal issue is whether the defendants are entitled to a new trial because the jury failed to allocate some degree of fault to a non-party, even though the parties stipulated that the non-party proximately caused the relevant injuries. Here, the jury disregarded the stipulation and apportioned 100% of fault to the party defendants. We hold that a jury must allocate some degree of fault to a stipulated non-party at fault. Accordingly, we remand for a new trial.

¶ 2 We must also decide if we should vacate the jury’s verdict in its entirety and remand for a trial on all issues of liability and damages, or affirm the jury’s verdict as to liability and damages and remand for a trial only on the allocation of fault as between the party defendants and the designated non-party at fault. After reviewing the record, we conclude that the jury’s verdict must be vacated in its entirety and the matter remanded for a trial on all issues of liability and damages.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 3 In the early morning hours of November 3,1990, in Phoenix, a pickup truck driven by Joseph Lichman collided with a motorcycle driven by Dean F. Zeller, with Lori A. Ogden seated behind him. Lichman, who had been drinking at a local bar, was turning left onto Campbell Avenue after proceeding southbound on 35th Avenue. Mr. Zeller died and Ms. Ogden suffered serious injuries.

1Í4 The parties stipulated in their joint pretrial statement that “Lichman was intoxicated at the time of the accident, and his intoxication was a proximate cause of the accident.” Lichman pled guilty to criminal charges in connection with Mr. Zeller’s death and served time in prison.

¶5 Ms. Ogden and Mr. Zeller’s relatives brought a personal injury action against Lichman’s employer, J.M. Steel Erecting, Inc., and its owners, Jay Soyko (Soyko) and his spouse, Mary Soyko (collectively Steel). The suit also named Lichman as a defendant, but the trial court later severed Lichman from the case and redesignated him as a non-party at fault.

¶ 6 The parties agreed that Lichman was not acting in the course and scope of his employment at the time of the accident. Instead, the plaintiffs argued that Steel owned the truck and had negligently entrusted it to Lichman. The evidence at trial therefore focused on paperwork surrounding an alleged “sale” of the truck from Steel to Lichman and Lichman’s driving record.

¶ 7 Soyko testified that he was unaware of Lichman’s poor driving record, including a March 1989 conviction for driving under the influence. He further testified that he was aware of one occasion when Lichman had to walk back to work after a police officer prohibited him from driving because Lichman’s driver’s license had been suspended. Lichman, however, told Soyko that he had not received a ticket for the stop and simply had to pay a reinstatement fee.

¶ 8 Over Steel’s objection, former J.M. Steel general manager Roger Morgan testified that Soyko was aware of Lichman’s driving record. In fact, Morgan testified that J.M. Steel kept the title and insurance on the truck because it knew that Lichman would not qualify for insurance in light of his bad driving record. Morgan would pay the monthly insurance premiums on the truck during the time when it was being driven personally by Lichman, even though Morgan *35 repeatedly complained to Soyko about the arrangement.

V 9 The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs and against Steel. The verdict allocated 100% of the fault to Steel and no fault to Lichman. Ms. Ogden received $1,416,437 in damages, and Mr. Zeller’s relatives collectively received $1,300,000. The trial court subsequently entered judgment not only for these compensatory damages, but also for pre-judgment interest accruing on certain portions of the judgment.

¶ 10 Steel then filed unsuccessful motions for a new trial pursuant to Rule 59(a) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, for judgment as a matter of law 1 because of the 0% allocation of fault to Lichman, and to amend the judgment. This appeal followed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) sections 12-2101(B) and (F) (1994).

DISCUSSION

I. Steel’s Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law

¶ 11 We first address Steel’s motion for judgment as a matter of law following the verdict because, if Steel prevails on this issue of the appeal, the remaining issues are moot. See, e.g., Pointe Resorts, Inc. v. Culbertson, 158 Ariz. 137, 140-41, 761 P.2d 1041, 1044-45 (1988) (“Generally the mootness doctrine requires that judicial opinions not be rendered concerning issues which no longer exist because of changes in the factual circumstances.”).

¶ 12 Steel argues that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law following the jury’s verdict allocating 100% of fault for the plaintiffs’ damages to Steel and 0% to Lichman, a designated non-party at fault. Steel bases its argument on the proposition that a defendant-entrustor cannot be held liable in tort for negligent entrustment if the underlying theory of negligence, that is, the negligence of an entrustee, fails. See Quintero v. Cont’l Rent-A-Car Sys., Inc., 9 Ariz.App. 488, 491, 453 P.2d 999, 1002 (1969) (“Tort liability arising out of negligent entrustment involves the concurrent acts of negligence of the person entrusting the automobile and of the person to whom the automobile was entrusted.” (citing Hardwick v. Bublitz, 254 Iowa 1253, 119 N.W.2d 886 (1963))), vacated on other grounds, 105 Ariz. 135, 460 P.2d 189 (1969). Steel contends that the jury’s allocation of 0% fault to Lichman destroys the plaintiffs’ overarching theory of liability— that is, negligent entrustment — because an entrustor cannot be negligent if the entrustee is not negligent in the first instance. 2 See, e.g., Mulhern v. City of Scottsdale, 165 Ariz. 395, 398, 799 P.2d 15, 18 (App.1990) (“In order for the employer to be held liable for negligent hiring, retention or supervision, the employee must have committed a tort.”); Behrens v. Aetna Life & Cas., 153 Ariz. 301, 302, 736 P.2d 385, 386 (App.1987) (declaring, in the context of a homeowners’ insurance policy exclusion, that “[a] claim for negligent entrustment, or for that matter negligent supervision, cannot exist apart from the excluded negligent operation of the [instrumentality of the injury]”).

¶ 13 Steel would be entitled to judgment as a matter of law if the jury had the question of whether Lichman was liable before it and then found Lichman not liable by returning a 0% allocation of fault to him. Here, however, the jury did not have to determine whether Lichman was negligent because the parties stipulated to his negligence.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
31 P.3d 806, 201 Ariz. 32, 348 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 49, 2001 Ariz. App. LEXIS 89, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ogden-v-jm-steel-erecting-inc-arizctapp-2001.