Torres v. Episcopal Hospital

47 Pa. D. & C.4th 104, 2000 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 156

This text of 47 Pa. D. & C.4th 104 (Torres v. Episcopal Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Torres v. Episcopal Hospital, 47 Pa. D. & C.4th 104, 2000 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 156 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2000).

Opinion

ACKERMAN, J.,

Following a 14-day jury trial, inter alia, the jury found for the plaintiff, Ana Torres, and against the defendants, George Kozub, Episcopal Hospital, James Murphy, Albert Van Dine and Advanced Door Service Inc., in the sum of $1.5 million. The jury also found for the husband-plaintiff, Pedro Torres, and against the defendants, George Kozub, Episcopal Hospital, James Murphy, Albert Van Dine and Advanced Door Service Inc., in the sum of $250,000. The jury apportioned liability as to George Kozub, defendant, 20 percent; Episcopal Hospital, defendant, 50 percent; James Murphy, defendant, 10 percent; Albert Van Dine, defendant, 5 percent; and Advanced Door Service Inc., defendant, 15 percent.

This court molded these percentages of responsibility to hold defendant, Episcopal Hospital, vicariously liable for 70 percent of the verdict (including the vicarious liability of Episcopal Hospital for unnamed employees, totalling 50 percent) and 20 percent for employee, defendant, George Kozub.

Defendants, Episcopal Hospital and George Kozub, filed a motion for post-trial relief, claiming, inter alia:

(A) A judgment n.o.v. is appropriate because:

(1) Moving defendants are entitled to full indemnity from defendant, Advanced Door Service Inc.

[106]*106(2) Defendant, Episcopal Hospital, should not have been included on the verdict form as there was no evidence of direct negligence nor evidence of negligent acts allegedly committed by unnamed employees.

(3) The jury’s loss of consortium award is not supported by the evidence.

(B) A new trial is appropriate because:

(1) The jury’s apportionment of damages against defendant, Episcopal Hospital, is irreconcilably inconsistent with the apportionment of damages against defendant, George Kozub.

(2) Instructional errors require a new trial because:

(a) A res ipsa loquitur charge should not have been given to the jury.

(b) The charge as to life expectancy should not have been given to the jury.

(c) The jury should have been charged that under the law, defendant, Episcopal, can satisfy its duty of reasonable care by contracting with defendant, Advanced Door Service Inc.

(d) Plaintiffs’ counsel made prejudicial remarks during closing argument.

(e) Plaintiffs’ expert, William Simon M.D., was improperly permitted to testify beyond the fair scope of his pretrial reports.

After review of defendants’, Episcopal Hospital’s and George Kozub’s, motion for post-trial relief and plaintiffs’ and defendant’s, Advanced Door Service Inc.’s, responses thereto, and after argument and hearing, this court, inter alia, ordered in its order of November 15, 1999, and clarification order of November 19,1999, that: (1) defendants’, Episcopal Hospital’s and George Kozub’s, motion for post-trial relief was denied, and entered judgment on the jury verdict; and (2) both cross-claims of defendants, Episcopal Hospital and Advanced Door Service Inc., against each other were denied.

[107]*107Defendants, Episcopal Hospital and George Kozub, filed the instant appeal.

I. Moving Defendants Are Entitled to Full Indemnity From Defendant, Advanced Door Service Inc.

This court properly found from the evidence in the record that defendant’s, Episcopal Hospital’s, acquisition and continuation of the dangerous condition (i.e., doors) precluded the right of indemnity by the hospital under the common-law theory of indemnification. (See June 22, 1999, pp. 29-30.)

As the Superior Court has noted, a party is entitled to indemnity only when, without active fault on its part, it has been compelled by reason of some legal obligation to pay damages occasioned by the negligence of another. Only under those circumstances may the party compelled to pay recover from the party primarily liable. Fevy v. First Pennsylvania Bank N.A., 338 Pa. Super. 73, 487 A.2d 857 (1985).

As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held, in the case of concurrent joint tort-feasors, having no legal relation to one another, each of them owing the same duty to the plaintiff and involved in an accident in which an injury occurs, no right of indemnity exists, and there is only common liability, even though one party may have been much more negligent than the other. Builders Supply Co. v. McCabe, 366 Pa. 322, 77 A.2d 368 (1951).

No error in this respect occurred.

II. Defendant, Episcopal Hospital, Should Not Have Been Included on the Verdict Form As There Was No Evidence of Direct Negligence Nor Evidence of Negligent Acts Allegedly Committed by Unnamed Employees

The uncontroverted evidence in this case reveals that numerous employees were “involved” with these doors [108]*108in general, and with regard to the contractual obligation to inspect and conduct a “walk-through” in particular. Its supervisory employees, George Kozub, Walter Marek and Paul Sámese, identified the various departments of employees who would or should have been involved with the safety of these doors, and the defendant’s own memorandum identifies other non-named individuals including “Mr. Carlin and Mr. Hagen.”

Accordingly, there was evidence of negligent acts committed by unnamed employees of defendant, Episcopal Hospital, which formed the proper basis for a jury verdict against defendant, Episcopal Hospital, based upon vicarious responsibility for unnamed employees.

Our Supreme Court of Pennsylvania supports such a finding of vicarious liability for unnamed employees as follows:

In Shrum v. Pennsylvania Electric Co., 440 Pa. 383, 269 A.2d 502 (1970), our Supreme Court specifically found that a verdict may properly be entered against the entity alone based upon the negligence of a non-named employee. In that case, an employee who had been named as a defendant was exonerated, but the verdict against the Pennsylvania Electric Company was affirmed based upon liability stemming from the negligence of “another employee” who was not named. 440 Pa. at 387, 269 A.2d at 505.

In Pryor v. Chambersburg Oil and Gas Co., 316 Pa. 521,103 A.2d 425 (1954), our Supreme Court again specifically condoned the imposition of liability against an employer named as a defendant despite the jury’s absolving the named defendant employee, as the jury could have found this company negligent “because of an act or omission by its president” (who was not named in the lawsuit). 376 Pa. at 529, 103 A.2d at 429.

[109]*109In Stark v. Lehigh Foundries Inc., 388 Pa. 1,130 A.2d 123 (1970), our Supreme Court again condoned holding the defendant company liable in view of the actions or omissions of one of its employees who was not named as a defendant. 388 Pa. at 12-13,130 A.2d at 129.

There was no error in including defendant, Episcopal Hospital, on the verdict form.

III. The Jury’s Loss of Consortium Award Is Not Supported by the Evidence

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47 Pa. D. & C.4th 104, 2000 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/torres-v-episcopal-hospital-pactcomplphilad-2000.