Gallo v. Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A.
| Decision Date | 08 June 1987 |
| Citation | 526 A.2d 359,363 Pa.Super. 308 |
| Parties | Concetta GALLO v. YAMAHA MOTOR CORPORATION, U.S.A., Bruce Ott, Steven J. Polansky and Pocono West, Inc., A Pennsylvania Corporation and Yamulla Trucking, Inc. and Yamulla Enterprises, Inc., t/a Lake Harmony Estates. Appeal of YAMULLA TRUCKING, INC. and Yamulla Enterprises, Inc. t/a Lake Harmony Estates. 01244 Phila. 1986 |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Robert E. Simpson, Jr., Easton, for appellants.
James C. Hogan, Easton, for Gallo, appellee.
Barbara L. Hallenbach, Easton, for Yamaha Motor Corp., appellee.
Before CAVANAUGH, McEWEN and MONTEMURO, JJ.
Appellant challenges the denial of its post-trial motions by the Northampton Court of Common Pleas. Because the trial court committed several errors of consequence, we reverse and remand for a new trial.
This case arises from a January 28, 1978 collision between an automobile and the snowmobile upon which appellee Concetta Gallo was riding as a passenger. Ms. Gallo filed an action against appellees Bruce Ott, driver of the snowmobile, Steven J. Polansky, driver of the automobile, and Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A., manufacturer of the snowmobile. Yamaha joined appellants Yamulla Trucking, Inc. and Yamulla Enterprises, Inc., both trading as Lake Harmony Estates (Lake Harmony). Lake Harmony owned the road on which the collision occurred. 1 The road, which was covered with snow and ice at the time of the mishap, meanders through a residential resort that Lake Harmony had developed in the Pocono Region of Carbon County. Ms. Gallo alleged in her first amended complaint that Mr. Polansky and Mr. Ott had operated their respective vehicles negligently. She further alleged that Yamaha had defectively designed the fateful snowmobile. In its complaint joining Lake Harmony as an additional defendant, however, Yamaha charged that Lake Harmony, as a landowner, had caused Ms. Gallo's injuries by negligently failing to keep its road safe for automobile and snowmobile traffic.
The ten day trial of these claims began on February 25, 1985. At its conclusion, after the jury had received the court's instruction but before it retired to deliberate, the court ruled on the parties' suggested points for charge. Three of these rulings concern us here. First, the court denied Lake Harmony's request for an instruction on the Recreation Use of Land and Water Act, 68 P.S. § 477-1 et seq. Lake Harmony had asserted in new matter that the Act immunized Lake Harmony from all liability for Ms. Gallo's injuries. 2 Second, the court refused to caution the jury expressly against awarding damages for delay. Lake Harmony had requested the court pursuant to Pa. R.C.P. 238(d) to instruct the jury not to award Ms. Gallo any damages for delay "because this is a matter for the court." Third, the court refused to instruct the jury not to compensate Ms. Gallo for those losses covered by the now-repealed Pennsylvania No-fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act, 40 P.S. § 1009.101 et seq., which was in effect at the time of Ms. Gallo's injury. The court had ruled immediately prior to trial that it would admit evidence of any medical expenses or lost wages Ms. Gallo suffered as a result of the accident. Several of the defendants had argued that the No-fault Act precluded recovery in tort of any medical expenses or lost wages that fell within the required limits of No-fault coverage. 3 In deciding to admit the evidence, the court reserved for later disposition the issue of whether the No-fault Act applies to this case. The court indicated that, if required, it would mold the verdict to remove any amounts recoverable under No-fault.
The jury returned with a special verdict on March 8, 1985. The verdict absolved Mr. Polansky and Yamaha of all liability to Ms. Gallo and attributed negligence 70% to Mr. Ott, 25% to Lake Harmony and 5% to Ms. Gallo. The jury awarded damages of $80,000 for medical expenses, $248,000 for lost earnings and $325,000 for such non-economic injuries as pain, suffering, disfigurement and embarrassment. Following a hearing on March 29, 1985, the court added delay damages of $352,620 and then reduced the total verdict to $953,339 to reflect Ms. Gallo's contributory negligence. Lake Harmony filed a timely motion for post-trial relief in which it asked the court to grant judgment n.o.v. or a new trial or to mold the verdict downward. The court en banc denied the motion. Lake Harmony's timely appeal followed entry of judgment on April 7, 1986.
We need address only three of the six issues that Lake Harmony presents:
I. Whether the trial court should have instructed the jury on the applicability of the Recreation Use of Land and Water Act, even though Lake Harmony did not invite the public onto its land.
II. Whether the trial court, when requested to do so, should have cautioned the jury expressly against awarding damages for delay.
III. Whether the partial abolition of tort liability in the now-repealed No-fault Act bars Ms. Gallo's claims for medical expenses against Lake Harmony, a landowner.
Lake Harmony argues that it is entitled to immunity from liability as a landowner in this case because of the Recreation Use of Land and Water Act., 68 P.S. § 477-1 et seq. The General Assembly passed the Act in 1965 expressly "to encourage owners of land to make land and water areas available to the public for recreational purposes." 68 P.S. § 477-1. The Act promotes this goal by limiting landowner liability for injuries that occur on the land 4 as a result of recreational activity. Section 3 of the Act limits traditional landowner liability as follows:
Except as specifically recognized or provided in section 6 of this act, an owner of land owes no duty of care to keep the premises safe for entry or use by others for recreational purposes, or to give any warning of a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity on such premises to persons entering for such purposes.
Id. at § 477-3. For landowners who by some means invite or permit recreational activity on their land, Section 4 of the Act contains a slightly different formulation of the immunity standard:
Except as specifically recognized by or provided in section 6 of this act, an owner of land who either directly or indirectly invites or permits without charge any person to use such property for recreational purposes does not thereby:
(1) Extend any assurance that the premises are safe for any purpose.
(2) Confer upon such person the legal status of an invitee or licensee to whom a duty or care is owed.
(3) Assume responsibility for or incur liability for any injury to persons or property caused by an act or omission of such persons.
Id. at § 477-4. As these provisions indicate, however, the immunity is not absolute. Section 6 of the Act preserves landowner liability for "wilful or malicious failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity." Id. at § 477-6(1). This section also preserves the usual, negligence-based standard of care for those cases in which the landowner has charged the plaintiff a fee or admission price to use the land. Id. at § 477-6(2).
Lake Harmony maintains that the trial court should have instructed the jury on these provisions. 5 Ms. Gallo does not dispute that she entered Lake Harmony's land, without charge, to pursue "recreational purposes." Nevertheless, the trial court concluded, and Ms. Gallo now argues, that a landowner can take advantage of immunity under the Recreation Use Act only if he or she has "donated" the land in question to the public. Because the evidence at trial indicated that the road on which the injury occurred was private, the trial court refused Lake Harmony's points for charge on the applicability of the Act. Both the trial court and Ms. Gallo suggest that a landowner must at least indirectly invite the public to recreate on the landowner's otherwise private property. We disagree. Nothing in the plain language of the Act imposes this kind of strict quid pro quo.
Of course, our supreme court has cautioned that we must construe the Recreation Use Act narrowly. See Rivera v. Philadelphia Theological Seminary, 510 Pa. 1, 507 A.2d 1 (1986). Grants of immunity from suit are "out of harmony, generally, with the modern trend in tort law." Id. at 12, 507 A.2d at 7. 6 We cannot, however, substitute our own judgment for that of the General Assembly. No court of this Commonwealth can disregard the plain letter of a statute "under the pretext of pursuing its spirit." 1 Pa. C.S.A. § 1921(b). Moreover, as did the court in Rivera, we must consider the Act as a whole. We must presume that "the General Assembly intends the entire statute to be effective." Id. at § 1922(2). See also id. at § 1921(a).
In holding that the Recreation Use Act immunizes only those landowners who directly or indirectly "donate" their land to the public, the trial court appears to have relied exclusively on language in Section 4 of the Act. Section 4 applies to the "owner of land who either directly or indirectly invites or permits" others to use his or her land for "recreational purposes." Although this language by itself would support the trial court's conclusion, the Act contains two separate grants of immunity: one in Section 4 and the other in Section 3. By its terms, Section 3 grants immunity to the "owner of land" without reference to whether the owner "invites or permits" others onto his or her property. Section 4 extends the same immunity to the owner who does somehow invite or permit recreational activity. Unlike Section 3, however, it further provides that those owners who "invite or permit" recreation do not thereby assure the safety of their premises or confer "the legal status of an invitee or licensee" upon persons using their premises. The need for this further grant of immunity arises from the complexity of landowner liability...
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