Reimers v. Honeywell, Inc.
| Decision Date | 20 June 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-556,POWESHIEK-JASPER,89-556 |
| Citation | 457 N.W.2d 336 |
| Parties | Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 12,542 Janice A. REIMERS, Administrator of the Estate of Lance D. Reimers, a Minor Child, Deceased; Janice A. Reimers, Executor of the Estate of Harry A. Reimers, Deceased; Janice A. Reimers, Individually; and Chad L. Reimers, a Minor Child, by and through his Mother and Next Friend, Janice A. Reimers, Plaintiffs, v. HONEYWELL, INC.; Magic Chef, Inc. f/k/a Johnson Corporation f/k/a the Johnson Furnace Company; Iowa Supply Company; and Triple "S" Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Corporation, Defendants. HONEYWELL, INC., Appellee, v.FARM SERVICE COMPANY, Appellant. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Frank A. Comito of Comito & Capps, Des Moines, and George Flynn and Thomas Klosowski of Cosgrove, Flynn, Gaskins & Haskell, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellee.
John B. Grier of Cartwright, Druker & Ryden, Marshalltown, for appellant.
Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and LARSON, SCHULTZ, SNELL, and ANDREASEN, JJ.
After paying a substantial amount to settle a products liability case a manufacturer brought this suit for contribution. The case was tried before a jury which found contributions should be ordered. This appeal challenges both the trial court's venue and sufficiency of the evidence to support the judgment for contribution. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.
In 1985 there was a gas explosion in the home of Harry and Janice Reimers in Poweshiek County. Harry and his son, Lance, were killed. Janice and another son, Chad, were injured. The survivors and the estates of Harry and Lance brought a products liability action against Honeywell, Inc. Honeywell manufactured a furnace valve which failed, causing leaking L.P. gas and the subsequent explosion. Honeywell is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Honeywell was registered to do business in Iowa; its registered agent and office were located in Polk County.
Other defendants were joined in the action on theories of claimed involvement with providing or supplying the furnace. Magic Chef, Inc. (the furnace manufacturer), also a Delaware corporation, was not registered to do business in Iowa. Because it had no registered Iowa agent Magic Chef was served pursuant to the long-arm statute. See Iowa Code § 496A.112 (1989). Iowa Supply Co. (the furnace retailer) was an Iowa corporation with its principal place of business in Des Moines in Polk County. Triple "S" Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Corporation (furnace seller and servicer) was an Iowa corporation with its principal place of business and registered agent in Poweshiek County.
Although the accident had occurred in Poweshiek County the Reimers' suit was brought in Polk County, and no one disputes that it was properly commenced there. Venue in Polk County was proper because at least one defendant (Iowa Supply Co.) resided there. Venue was therefore proper for all defendants. Iowa Code § 616.18 ().
Honeywell filed cross-claims for contribution against Magic Chef and Triple "S." In addition Honeywell filed a third-party petition against Poweshiek-Jasper Farm Service (hereinafter Poweshiek), the Reimers' gas supplier. Poweshiek was an Iowa corporation with its principal place of business and registered agent in Poweshiek County.
Thereafter, prior to trial, Honeywell settled with the Reimers. All claims of all four plaintiffs against all defendants were settled for $1.4 million. Then Honeywell settled its contribution claims against Magic Chef and Triple "S." The claim against Iowa Supply was dismissed on an unopposed summary judgment motion. The case then proceeded to trial on Honeywell's contribution claim against Poweshiek.
The jury returned a verdict finding Honeywell eighty percent at fault, Poweshiek fifteen percent at fault, and Triple "S" five percent at fault. The jury found the $1.4 million settlement reasonable. The trial court entered judgment against Poweshiek in favor of Honeywell for $210,000. This appeal followed.
I. After Iowa Supply was granted summary judgment Poweshiek moved for dismissal pursuant to Iowa Code section 616.20. 1 There may be alternative grounds to support the trial court's rejection of the motion. At the outset there is serious reason to question whether the right of dismissal given nonresident defendants by section 616.20 extends to cases where venue is acquired, as it was in this case, under section 616.18. Section 616.20 expressly addresses only actions brought pursuant to sections 616.17 and 616.19. Poweshiek contends that the expressed sweep of section 616.20 should be broadened to include actions brought under section 616.18, a contention we do not address.
We rest our affirmance of the point on another ground. Honeywell was licensed to do business in Iowa and maintained its primary Iowa offices in Des Moines, Polk County. This makes Honeywell also a "resident" of Polk County for venue purposes. A foreign corporation doing business in Iowa is a resident here. Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Co. v. Incorporated Town of Clive, 249 Iowa 1346, 1349, 91 N.W.2d 602, 604 (1958). Even if we were to apply the dismissal right of section 616.20 to cases brought under section 616.18, Honeywell remained a Polk County resident. We do not think Honeywell's venue status was altered by what occurred after it was brought into the suit.
This is not a situation where a plaintiff makes a claim of venue on the basis of a spurious claim against one defendant and then dismisses it. Honeywell was brought into this suit as a defendant. It was the Reimers who first claimed venue in Polk County. Honeywell properly appeared as defendant and raised its contribution claims in Polk County. Polk County venue was not lost when the other Polk County defendant was dismissed from the case. The trial court was correct in so holding.
II. The Reimers' suit against Honeywell included a count based on wanton and reckless disregard. Punitive damages were sought. In its answer to Honeywell's third-party petition Poweshiek raised the affirmative defense that, in conscious disregard of them, Honeywell exposed the Reimers to a highly unreasonable risk of harm. Poweshiek contends this barred Honeywell from recovery under the comparative fault Act, Iowa Code ch. 668. The trial court rejected Poweshiek's contention and submitted the case to the jury without requiring Honeywell to show the extent to which its settlement excluded payments for claimed punitive damages. On appeal Poweshiek contends that Honeywell is barred from recovering on two alternative grounds. It contends Honeywell cannot recover because it was guilty of conduct justifying an award of punitive damages. Poweshiek also contends that, because the portion of the settlement attributable to such conduct was not shown, the entire damage award was tainted and not recoverable.
In Beeck v. Aquaslide 'n' Dive Corp., 350 N.W.2d 149 (Iowa 1984), a case decided prior to the comparative fault Act, we held that intentional or reckless tortfeasors--whom we defined as those guilty of willful or wanton misconduct--were not entitled to contribution. Id. at 170. The trial court here nevertheless submitted Honeywell's contribution claim for jury consideration in the belief that the legislature undid our Aquaslide holding when it enacted the comparative fault Act.
The argument that the legislature rejected the Aquaslide (and therefore the Restatement) view is certainly tenable. Fault is defined in the Act as "acts or omissions that are in any measure negligent or reckless." Iowa Code § 668.1(1). In reaching that view, however, the trial court did not have advantage of our later opinion in Godbersen v. Miller, 439 N.W.2d 206 (Iowa 1989). In Godbersen we rejected a contention that, under the comparative fault Act, a punitive damage award should be reduced by a plaintiff's proportionate fault. We said: "[W]e hold that the comparative fault principles of section 668.3(1) have no application to a claim for punitive damages." Id. at 209. We remain convinced of our Godbersen holding and think it controls the result in this case. Punitive damages lie outside the sweep of...
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