Leliefeld v. Panorama Contractors, Inc.

• Decision Date: 16 January 1986
• Docket Number: No. 15349,15349
• Parties: Donald H. LELIEFELD and Jewel H. Leliefeld, husband and wife, Nabisco, Inc., a corporation, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. PANORAMA CONTRACTORS, INC., Johnnie L. Carnline, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 1306

728 P.2d 1306

111 Idaho 897

Donald H. LELIEFELD and Jewel H. Leliefeld, husband and wife, Nabisco, Inc., a corporation, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. PANORAMA CONTRACTORS, INC., Johnnie L. Carnline, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 15349.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Jan. 16, 1986.

On Rehearing Sept. 24, 1986.

Second Rehearing Denied Oct. 31, 1986.

John W. Barrett and Kirk R. Helvie of the firm Moffat, Thomas, Barrett & Blanton,

[111 Idaho 898] Chartered, Boise, for appellants. Both argued

Nicholas M. LaManna, Priest River, and J. Donald Curran argued, Spokane, for respondents.

BISTLINE, Justice.

The facts which give rise to this controversy are well stated in the opinion on the first appeal, Leliefeld v. Johnson, 104 Idaho 357, 360-61, 659 P.2d 111, 114-15 (1983) (Leliefeld I ):

On April 9, 1975, a traffic accident occurred on the Lightning Creek Bridge on Idaho State Highway 200 near Clark Fork, Idaho. While plaintiff-respondent Donald Leliefeld was driving east in his employer's truck, defendant-cross-appellant Johnnie Carnline was driving west in his employer's dump truck pulling a lowboy trailer loaded with a D-6 Caterpillar bulldozer. The minimum width of Carnline's load was 9'2"'' and the bulldozer blade extended beyond the right-hand edge of the trailer. At the time of the accident, I.C. § 49-913 provided that no vehicle using the Idaho highways could exceed eight feet in width without a permit from the state. Carnline had no permit.

A collision occurred on the bridge between the truck driven by Leliefeld and the bulldozer on Carnline's trailer. While the approach roadways were 22' wide, the bridge, which was built in 1937, was 20' wide from curb to curb. On neither the approaches nor the bridge were there warning signs concerning the bridge width. There was conflicting testimony as to which truck first entered the bridge. While crossing the bridge, the bulldozer blade caught on a bridge girder which caused the bulldozer to be displaced into the path of Leliefeld's oncoming truck. During the ensuing collision, Leliefeld was injured. Some time subsequent to the accident, warning signs were erected at this bridge.

The Leliefelds and his [Donald's] employer Nabisco brought suit against Carnline, and his employer Wendell Johnson, d/b/a Panorama Contractors, Inc., a/k/a/ Panoramic Construction, and the State of Idaho seeking to recover damages. The State answered and filed a cross-complaint against the other defendants Wendell Johnson, Panorama, and Carnline for damages to the bridge and for indemnity and contribution in the event the State was shown to be liable. In turn Carnline, Johnson, and Panorama filed a responsive pleading which counterclaimed against the Leliefelds and Nabisco for property damage and personal injuries to Carnline and cross-claimed against the State for damages and indemnity. Attorney fees were sought by all parties.

At the ensuing trial, the jury apportioned 10 percent of the negligence to Leliefeld, 65 percent to Carnline, and 25 percent to the state. The jury found damages as follows: Donald Leliefeld--$400,000, Jewel Leliefeld--$20,000, and Nabisco--$13,946.82 (property damages). Judgments were awarded as set out by the majority's opinion at 104 Idaho at 362, 659 P.2d at 116.

The defendants appealed the judgments against them. The defendants were essentially two in number: (1) Johnnie Carnline, driver of the Panoramic vehicle; Wendell Johnson, his employer, who did business as Panorama Contractors, Inc., a/k/a Panoramic Construction; Panoramic Construction itself, and (2) the State of Idaho. This Court's opinion found no validity in the challenges of error raised by Carnline and Johnson. Error was found in the admission of certain evidence challenged by the state of Idaho, and that defendant was held to be entitled to a new trial in which the jury would determine anew its percentage of causal fault. This would necessarily involve a redetermination of the causal fault of plaintiff Donald Leliefeld and that of the defendant Carnline-Johnson. Such is an attribute of comparative negligence actions where there are more than two

[111 Idaho 899] parties whose degrees of fault are at issue. Carnline-Johnson, unable to persuade the Court of any error on their appeal, nonetheless were beneficiaries of the reversal as to the state's liability which the state obtained

The jury's adjudication of monetary damages suffered by the plaintiffs was specifically affirmed:

The quantum of damages awarded by the jury is adequately supported by the record. Because we find no reversible error with respect to the determination of damages and we consider the damages severable from the liability issue, we affirm that determination. Id. at 375, 659 P.2d at 129 (citations omitted).

At the second trial, following a settlement made between the defendant State of Idaho and the plaintiffs, no evidence was presented to the jury upon which it could have found any causative negligence attributable to the state. Accordingly, the special verdict given to the jury asked the jury to apportion negligence only as to plaintiffs and as to the defendants Carnline-Johnson. Plaintiff Donald Leliefeld's negligence was set at five percent and Carnline-Johnson's at 95 percent. The jury apportioned no causal fault to the State of Idaho. The court applied these percentages to the damages determined at the first trial, and affirmed by this Court, and properly credited the defendants for the amount which plaintiffs had received from the State of Idaho.

The plaintiffs requested interest on their judgment award commencing from the date of the original judgment, September 6, 1978, to the date judgment was entered on retrial, October 19, 1983. The district court, in allowing interest, observed that the damages fixed by the jury were affirmed by the Supreme Court: ¹

The only way the Defendant could avoid payment of a percentage of the Judgment was to prevail completely on the retrial proving Plaintiff's negligence was as great as the negligence of Carnline and Johnson. Otherwise, the Defendants could be certain of a monetary Judgment easily capable of computation based upon the fixed maximum amount affirmed in Leliefeld I.

Since the amount of the judgment in Leliefeld I was not reversed, nor modified in any regard by the Supreme Court, interest is due on said sum from the date of the original Judgment.

In Mitchell vs Flandro 96 Ida 236 [526 P.2d 841], although the Supreme Court reversed the case in part and remanded the same to the trial Court, [it] nevertheless held that:

"Costs of the original judgment were not reversed or modified on appeal and therefore they bear interest from the date of the original judgment." [Id. at 238, 526 P.2d at 843.]

Such an award of interest may seem unfair to the Defendants, however, it must be kept in mind that imposing interest on a Judgment is traditionally viewed as compensation for the improper retention by the debtor of the creditor's funds, after Judgment, and pending an appeal. R., pp. 65-66.

In Odenwalt v. Zaring, 102 Idaho 1, 624 P.2d 383 (1980), this Court was called upon to decide whether it would there apply the "individual" or "Wisconsin" rule, or the "unit" rule. Id. at 4, 624 P.2d at 386. Our comparative negligence statute, I.C. § 6-801, was enacted in 1971. The Court opted for the "Wisconsin" rule on the basis that the Idaho statute, "enacted in 1971, is virtually identical to the Wisconsin comparative negligence statute in effect in 1971." Id. Thus, the Court held "it clear that when I.C. § 6-801 was enacted the Idaho legislature intended to adopt the Wisconsin

[111 Idaho 900] or individual rule...." Id. The Court did so on the reasoning that "the Wisconsin Supreme Court has consistently construed its comparative negligence statute to require individual or one-on-one comparison." Id. at 4-5, 624 P.2d at 386-87. The Court cited two pre-1971 Wisconsin cases, Schwenn v. Loraine Hotel Co., 14 Wis.2d 601, 111 N.W.2d 495 (1961) and Walker v. Kroger Grocery & Baking Co., 214 Wis. 519, 252 N.W. 721 (1934), and other later Wisconsin cases as well. That citation of cases was followed with a reiteration of a time-honored principle to which this Court has faithfully adhered

This Court has consistently held that a statute which is adopted from another jurisdiction will be presumed to be adopted with the prior construction placed upon it by the courts of such other jurisdiction. Nixon v. Triber, 100 Idaho 198, 200, 595 P.2d 1093, 1095 (1979); State v. Miles, 97 Idaho 396, 545 P.2d 484 (1976); Doggett v. Electronics Corp. of America, 93 Idaho 26, 454 P.2d 63 (1969). Odenwalt, supra, 102 Idaho at 5, 624 P.2d at 387.

Leliefeld I also supports this proposition. In Part II thereof, the issue at stake was the effect of a 1971 statutory enactment dealing with design immunity. This Court, after observing "the striking similarity of language between the Idaho and California statutes," stated: "we conclude that our legislature chose to enact a version more like the California statute." Leliefeld I, supra, 104 Idaho at 368, 659 P.2d at 120. After observing that prior to 1971 (the date of the Idaho legislation in question) the Supreme Court of California, in two 1967 cases, Becker v. Johnston, 67 Cal.2d 163, 60 Cal.Rptr. 485, 430 P.2d 43 (1967), and Cabell v. State, 67 Cal.2d 150, 60 Cal.Rptr. 476, 430 P.2d 34 (1967), construed the California design immunity statute as granting perpetual immunity to the State of California, this Court, consistent with Odenwalt, likewise construed the 1971 Idaho statute to cloak the state with perpetual immunity. Of great importance is that this Court reached this conclusion notwithstanding the fact that those two California cases had been overruled prior to the collision between Leliefeld's truck and Carnline's bulldozer on the Lightning Creek Bridge, prior to the trial, and long prior to the appeal.

The Court's conclusion was in adherence to that...