Jenkins v. Immedia, Inc.
Jenkins v. Immedia, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff Franklyn Jenkins's Trial Brief (Doc. # 389), Defendant Immedia Inc.'s Brief Re: Savage Rule (Doc. # 397), and Immedia's Trial Brief (Doc # 399.) Throughout the course of this litigation, the parties have expended substantial resources, time, and effort addressing the issue of whether and how the Savage rule applies to this case. Both parties agree that Minnesota law governs Plaintiff's claims against Immedia. For the reasons set forth below, the Court holds that the Savage rule does not apply to Plaintiff's claims against Immedia.
*927I. BACKGROUND
The Court incorporates herein the factual and procedural background of this dispute, as described in detail in this Court's Order Granting Plaintiff's Motion for Reconsideration (Doc. # 268) and the Magistrate Judge's Recommendation (Doc. # 359), which were incorporated in the Court's May 31, 2019 Order Affirming and Adopting the April 25, 2019 Recommendation (Doc. # 378).
II. APPLICABLE LAW
A. THE SAVAGE RULE
In United States v. Savage Truck Line, Inc. ,
The decision of the questions raised by these appeals as to the respective liabilities of the United States [the shipper] and of Savage [the carrier] for damages occasioned by each to the property of the other turns on the rights and liabilities inherent in the carrier-shipper relationship between them in the interstate transaction upon which they were engaged.
* * *
Sometimes the principal fault is attributable to the party who performed the last act which resulted in the damage and without which it would not have occurred, that is, to the party who had the last clear chance to avoid the accident. (citations omitted) Whatever the terminology, the inquiry is always whether the difference in the gravity of the faults of the participants is so great as to throw the whole loss upon one. (citation omitted)
* * *
With equal certainty it was shown that the agents of Savage inspected the load before the journey was begun and that the driver concluded from his observation that the load was not properly fastened to the truck when he took charge of it. Obviously it was his duty, having this knowledge, to drive with particular attention to the speed of the vehicle but he conducted himself as if conditions were normal and the *928catastrophe ensued . It follows, applying the rule above set out, that Savage is not entitled to recover from the United States for damages to the Savage truck , but that the United States is entitled to recover from Savage for the damage to its airplane engines and containers .
* * *
Savage was not only obligated to carry the goods safely but it had the last clear chance to avoid the catastrophe, and therefore as the principal offender it must indemnify the United States [the shipper] for any damages which it is obliged to pay to the injured parties.
The Savage court concluded that, because the carrier was aware, at the time he took charge of the load, that load was not properly fastened to the truck, the "carrier [would] [ ] be liable notwithstanding the negligence of the shipper."
B. MINNESOTA LAW
The Minnesota Supreme Court has not addressed the issue of whether the Savage rule applies to personal injury claims or whether the Savage rule is compatible with Minnesota's comparative fault statutory scheme. "When no decision of a state's highest court has addressed an issue of that state's law, the federal court confronted with that issue 'must predict how [the State's] highest court would rule.' " Stuart v. Colo. Interstate Gas. Co. ,
Only three reported Minnesota Supreme Court decisions have cited to the Savage case. See Powers v. Siats ,
In Powers v. Siats , a company owner purchased 500 cases of eggs and directed carrier defendants to deliver the eggs from Minnesota to New Jersey.
In that case, although the Powers decision was based primarily on the contract embodied in the bill of lading, the Court also addressed briefly the carrier defendants' argument that they were absolved of liability because the parties agreed that the carrier defendants were not negligent The Minnesota Supreme Court, however, relied on the Savage rule for the following proposition:
The general rule is that, when the shipper assumes the responsibility for the *929proper condition of the goods when loaded, or the responsibility for their proper loading, he becomes liable for the defects which are latent and concealed and which cannot be discerned by the ordinary observation of the carrier's agents; but if the improper condition of the goods or the manner of their loading is apparent, or otherwise becomes seasonably known to the carrier, the carrier will be liable for damages notwithstanding the negligence of the shipper.
In Hendrickson v. Minn. Power & Light Co. , plaintiff's decedent was hired by the third-party defendant to deenergize power lines owned by a power company to facilitate the moving of a house.
In the Minnesota Supreme Court's analysis as to whether the power company could seek indemnity from the third-party defendant employer, the court cited Savage for the proposition that "[i]n the modern view, principles of equity furnish a more satisfactory basis for indemnity." Id. at 847. The Hendrickson court relied on a portion of the Savage decision
Finally, in Haney v. Int'l Harvester Co. , a plaintiff employee was injured in a one-vehicle accident and sued the manufacturer of the vehicle for negligence in the manufacture, design, and assembly of the truck, as well as for breach of warranty and strict liability for a defect in the vehicle at the time of manufacture.
In analyzing the defendant manufacturer's contribution and indemnity claims, the court reiterated that the Hendrickson decision set forth the "exceptional and limited" situations in which a joint tortfeasor could recover indemnity from another tortfeasor. Id. at 142. Explaining that the defendant manufacturer's indemnification claim did not necessarily fit into one of those exceptions, the Haney court cited the Savage decision as an example of a case that suggests "indemnity is granted where there is a great disparity in the degree of fault of the parties" and that the court should "possibly reconsider granting indemnification where there is a great disparity in the degree of fault of the parties."
C. MINNESOTA'S COMPARATIVE FAULT STATUTORY SCHEME
In 1969, Minnesota adopted its comparative fault statutory scheme, which is codified at
Contributory fault does not bar recovery in an action by any person or the person's legal representative to recover damages for fault resulting in death, in injury to person or property, or in economic loss, if the contributory fault was not greater than the fault of the person against whom recovery is sought, but any damages allowed must be diminished in proportion to the amount of fault attributable to the person recovering. The court may, and when requested by any party shall, direct the jury to find separate special verdicts determining the amount of damages and the percentage of fault attributable to each party and the court shall then reduce the amount of damages in proportion to the amount of fault attributable to the person recovering.
Subdivision 2 provides the following definition of "fault:"
"Fault" includes acts or omissions that are in any measure negligent or reckless toward the person or property of the actor or others, or that subject a person to strict tort liability. The term also includes breach of warranty, unreasonable assumption of risk not constituting an express consent or primary assumption of risk , misuse of a product and unreasonable failure to avoid an injury or to mitigate damages, and the defense of complicity under section 340A.801. Legal requirements of causal relation apply both to fault as the basis *931for liability and to contributory fault. The doctrine of last clear chance is abolished .
Since the adoption of Minnesota's comparative fault system, Minnesota "has rejected or significantly limited other such absolute tort doctrines that increase 'the likelihood of unfairness' and has opted for a comparative fault framework that 'contemplates justice for all parties.' " Senogles v. Carlson ,
Describing Hendrickson 's indemnity Rule 4 as "a blunt instrument for reallocating responsibility for damages" because "[i]t shifts the entire loss from one culpable wrongdoer to another," the Minnesota Supreme Court discarded the doctrine of indemnity because it was in contravention of Minnesota's comparative fault scheme. Tolbert v. Gerber Indus., Inc. ,
In comparing Hendrickson 's indemnity Rule 4 to "the related area of contributory negligence," the court observed that the Minnesota "legislature has abandoned the all-or-nothing approach of the common law by adopting a comparative negligence statute,
The Tolbert court, thus, overruled Hendrickson 's Rule 4.
Recent Minnesota case law reflects that Minnesota courts continue to ensure that liability rules fall in line with Minnesota's comparative fault scheme. In its 2017 Senogles decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected several of defendant's arguments that a "no-duty rule" should be recognized and applied to bar plaintiff's negligence claims.
The Minnesota Supreme Court rejected both arguments. First, the court reiterated Minnesota's longstanding law holding that "a possessor is liable to an invitee for harm caused by a known or obvious condition if the possessor should have 'anticipate the harm despite such knowledge or obviousness.' "
Additionally, as recent as 2019, the Minnesota Supreme Court refused to extend an "all or nothing" rule of primary assumption of risk to the sport of recreational downhill skiing and snowboarding. Soderberg v. Anderson ,
III. ANALYSIS
The Court holds that the Savage rule does not apply to the instant case. As a preliminary matter, the Minnesota Supreme *933Court has never cited the Savage decision for the proposition that the Savage rule applies when the damage caused by either a shipper or carrier's negligence is the personal injury of the carrier, as opposed to damage to the transported goods. More importantly, however, the Savage rule was intertwined with doctrines of last clear chance, contributory negligence, and indemnity-all-or-nothing liability approaches that have been rejected by both the Minnesota Supreme Court and Minnesota's Legislature.
Immedia's reliance on Tierney v. Arrowhead Concrete Works, Inc. ,
Minnesota case law construing the comparative fault statute also evinces that the Savage rule should not apply to Plaintiff's claims because such an application would undermine Minnesota's comparative fault scheme. The purpose of Minnesota's comparative fault scheme was to replace harsh tort doctrines that increase "the likelihood of unfairness" with a system that "contemplates justice for all parties." Senogles ,
Additionally, the Minnesota Legislature expressly abolished some of these doctrines (last clear chance) and subsumed others into the comparative fault equation (unreasonable assumption of the risk).
*934In the instant case, Immedia seeks to use the Savage rule to bar Plaintiff's claims "in whole or in part." (Doc. # 373 at 30.) As discussed above, Immedia contends that the Savage rule applies to all of the misconduct alleged by Plaintiff. (Doc. # 397 at 3-4; Doc. # 399 at 6-7.) As such, Immedia is not merely requesting that the Court apply the Savage rule to apportion duties. To the contrary, Immedia's requests this Court to apportion all-or-nothing liability based on Plaintiff's alleged duties under the Savage rule. See
Put differently, similar to the Soderberg landowner's argument, Immedia argues that Plaintiff's claims are completely barred because the Savage rule negates Immedia's duty of care to Plaintiff. But the Minnesota Supreme Court has already rejected the functional equivalent of Immedia's contention by refusing to extend the all-or-nothing liability doctrine of primary assumption of the risk and declining to recognize a new "no-duty" rule. Soderberg ,
That application does not comport with the purpose of Minnesota's comparative fault framework" that "contemplates justice for all parties." Senogles ,
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, this Court concludes that the Minnesota Supreme Court would not apply the Savage rule to the instant case. Thus, it is ORDERED that the Savage rule will not apply in this case.
The Court acknowledges that the Savage court applied these doctrines in the context of first determining liability between the shipper and carrier for the damaged goods and then for determining whether the carrier must indemnify the shipper for damages to third-parties injured as a result of the accident. The Savage court relied on the Savage rule and these doctrines for determining both of these issues.
These distinctions are important because the Savage rule must be limited to and "taken in connection with the case in which" the holding's "expressions are used." Cohens v. Virginia ,
In Savage , because both the defendant carrier and shipper were negligent in causing the trucking accident, damaging the transported goods and harming innocent third-party individuals, the shipper sought indemnity from the defendant carrier for the shipper's liability for injuries to the third parties.
As explained above, the Savage court utilized what became the Savage rule to hold the carrier as primarily liable as a result of the "doctrine of last clear chance" and, as such, to require that the carrier indemnify the shipper.
Primary assumption of the risk is a doctrine distinct from secondary assumption of the risk. The Minnesota Legislature unequivocally excluded the doctrine of "express consent or primary assumption of risk" from the definition of "fault" while subsuming other doctrines of "unreasonable assumption of risk[,]" such as secondary assumption of the risk, as part of the comparative fault calculation.
Indeed, for jurisdictions that have adopted comparative negligence schemes, there has been a "nationwide trend away from adherence to an 'all or nothing' rule such as contributory negligence in favor of the shared fault approach of comparative negligence[, which] has had a spillover effect in related areas." Davenport v. Cotton Hope Plantation Horizontal Prop. Regime ,
The Jenkins court also determined that Immedia owed "a duty to use reasonable care for [Plaintiff's] safety, which encompassed a duty to not "place [Plaintiff] in a position of danger which created a foreseeable risk of injury to him" and a "duty to warn Plaintiff of the danger of working in a pinch point, to direct him to a safer parking location." (Doc. # 319-1 at 72-73.)
Moreover, Plaintiff's Third Amended Complaint sets forth a plausible claim for punitive damages. (Doc. # 378 at 14.) Plaintiff's claim for punitive damages adds an additional layer of intent to the conduct that was not before the Savage court. Plaintiff has alleged that the evidence will show that Immedia "acted with deliberate disregard" or with "deliberate indifference" to the rights or safety of others." (Id. at 12.) This alleged form of intentional misconduct is outside the peripheral view of the Savage rule.
See Def.'s Proposed Non-Stipulated Jury Instruction ("A shipper, or a person or entity involved in preparing cargo for shipment or in loading the cargo, may be liable for their negligence in preparing or loading the cargo only if any defect in the way the cargo was loaded was concealed to the carrier or its driver.") (emphasis added).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Franklyn A. JENKINS v. IMMEDIA, INC., a Minnesota corporation.
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published