Smith v. Kolcraft Products, Inc.

107 F.R.D. 767, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14744
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 21, 1985
DocketCiv. A. No. 85-0607
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 107 F.R.D. 767 (Smith v. Kolcraft Products, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Kolcraft Products, Inc., 107 F.R.D. 767, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14744 (M.D. Pa. 1985).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

CALDWELL, District Judge.

I. Introduction.

Third party defendant, Arden Brent Smith, Sr. (Smith), has filed a motion to [768]*768dismiss the third party complaint filed against him by defendant, Kolcraft Products, Inc. (Kolcraft), as third party plaintiff. The third party complaint alleges that Smith is solely liable, jointly or severally liable with Kolcraft, or liable over to Kolcraft, for the claims made by plaintiffs in their complaint. Plaintiffs’ complaint in this diversity action seeks damages for the minor plaintiff, Arden Brent Smith, Jr., and his parents, Arden Brent Smith, Sr. and Ruth J. Smith, arising from injuries suffered by the minor plaintiff in an automobile accident.1 Smith contends that his joinder under Fed.R.Civ.P. 14(a) is improper because: (1) he and Kolcraft are not joint tortfeasors under Pennsylvania law; (2) the Comparative Negligence Statute, 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102, indicates that a person who is alleged only to be negligent should not be joined in an action with one who may be strictly liable; and (3) the general principles of strict liability mandate that the manufacturer of a defective product should not be able to shift liability onto a negligent user .or consumer.2

II. Discussion.

Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges that at the time of the accident Smith was driving an automobile south on U.S. Routes 11-15 near Liverpool Borough in Perry County Pennsylvania. (¶ 7). His wife, Ruth J. Smith, and their sons, Andrew and minor plaintiff, Arden Brent Smith, Jr., were passengers in the vehicle. Id. Smith feel asleep at the wheel and the car drifted through a guardrail, landing upside down in Wildcat Creek which runs under Routes 11-15. (¶ 9). He freed his wife and Andrew from the car but was unable to extricate the minor plaintiff who was strapped into the car in a “TOT-RIDER” car seat manufactured by Kolcraft. (¶ 10). Arden Brent Smith, Jr. remained under water for approximately twenty minutes to one-half hour before he was freed, (¶ 11), and he suffered permanent brain damage as a result. (1115). ’ Plaintiffs sued Kolcraft under the theory of strict liability in tort set out in Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A. Kolcraft sued Smith, alleging that he was negligent in operating the automobile and in “failing to properly install and/or secure the plaintiff, Arden Brent Smith, Jr. and the seat and/or extricate the plaintiff, Arden Brent Smith, Jr.” (Kolcraft’s complaint against Smith, ¶ 6(f)).

Fed.R.Civ.P. 14(a) permits a defendant to join a person “who is or may be liable to him for all or part of the plaintiff’s claim against him.” In other words, the rule permits joinder for contribution or indemnity and Smith contends that those claims cannot be made against him. because he is not a joint tortfeasor with Kolcraft. Citing Lasprogata v. Qualls, 263 Pa.Super. 174, 397 A.2d 803 (1979), and Voyles v. Corwin, 295 Pa.Super. 126, 441 A.2d 381 (1982), the third party defendant asserts that Kolcraft’s joinder fails to satisfy the following test for determining joint tortfeasor status:

the identity of a cause of action against each of two or more defendants; the existence of a common or like duty; whether the same evidence will support an action against each; the single, indivisible nature of the injury to the plaintiffs; identity of the facts as to time, place or result; whether the injury is direct and immediate, rather than consequential, responsibility of the defendants for the same injuria as distinguished from damnum.

Id. at 130-31, 441 A.2d at 383 (quoting Prosser, Law of Torts, § 46 n. 2 (4th ed. 1971) ).3

[769]*769Applying the foregoing test, Smith argues that there could not have been a joint tort. He asserts that his duties were different from Kolcraft’s.' Smith was required to operate the vehicle in a safe fashion. Kolcraft was required to provide a car seat free of defects. Also, neither party could guard against the conduct of the other. Further, the damages suffered by the minor plaintiff can be apportioned between the two so that Kolcraft would not have to compensate the minor plaintiff for injuries caused by Smith.

The above-quoted factors from Voyles are instructive but not conclusive on the determination of joint tortfeasor status. The Court in Voyles did not consider each of them essential and discussed only the factors appropriate to the circumstances of that case. In fact, the text of Prosser from which the factors were taken indicates that each was considered a test in itself by the court that used the particular factor to determine joint tortfeasor status. In the factual setting of this case, bearing in mind that the “terms ‘joint tort’ and ‘joint tortfeasors’ have been surrounded by no little uncertainty and confusion,” Prosser and Keeton, supra, § 46, we prefer simply to rely upon the following language from Lasprogata, supra: “to be a joint tortfeasor, ‘the parties must either act together in committing the wrong, or their acts, if independent of each other, must unite in causing a single injury.’ ”4 263 Pa.Super at 179 n. 4, 397 A.2d at 805 n. 4 (quoting Black’s Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1968)). Kolcraft’s and Smith’s actions fit the above definition. Independently of each other, the parties united to cause a single injury.

Smith’s most serious contention is that the harm to minor plaintiff can be apportioned between himself and Kolcraft. He argues that expert testimony could establish what minor plaintiff’s injuries would have been if he could have escaped the vehicle as quickly as the other passengers, injuries supposedly attributable to Smith. Kolcraft would then be left accountable for the injuries suffered after the automobile plunged into the creek. Because the harm can be apportioned, Smith is not a joint tortfeasor with Kolcraft and cannot be joined.

The question of apportionment of harm, however, is determined by whether the alleged tortfeasors acted jointly, see Voyles, supra, and we have already concluded that Smith and Kolcraft have done so here. If it were otherwise, joint tortfeasor status would be destroyed in any case in which expert testimony was available on the issue of the divisibility of harm from an injury. Capone v. Donovan, 332 Pa.Super. 185, 480 A.2d 1249 (1984), although not directly on point, is instructive here. In Capone, plaintiffs sued two of three physicians for malpractice arising from successive medical treatment for a college football injury suffered by the son plaintiff. Plaintiffs had settled with and released the other physician. The trial court granted summary judgment for the two physicians based upon the release. On appeal, plaintiffs contended that the three physicians were not joint tortfeasors, presumably arguing that the release did not therefore bar the suit. The Pennsylvania Superior Court observed that:

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Bluebook (online)
107 F.R.D. 767, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14744, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-kolcraft-products-inc-pamd-1985.