Svetz for Svetz v. Land Tool Co.

• Decision Date: 24 July 1986
• Citation: 513 A.2d 403,355 Pa.Super. 230
• Parties: Jane SVETZ, Trustee Ad Litem for Ignatius SVETZ, Deceased v. LAND TOOL COMPANY and Royal Distributors, Inc. t/a Royal Auto Supply v. V.J.L., INC. t/a Orchard View Inn and John Yorck. Appeal of LAND TOOL COMPANY.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 403

513 A.2d 403

355 Pa.Super. 230

Jane SVETZ, Trustee Ad Litem for Ignatius SVETZ, Deceased v. LAND TOOL COMPANY and Royal Distributors, Inc. t/a Royal Auto Supply v. V.J.L., INC. t/a Orchard View Inn and John Yorck.

Appeal of LAND TOOL COMPANY.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued March 12, 1986.

Filed July 24, 1986.

Gerald J. Cohen, Philadelphia, for appellant.

James C. Haggerty, Philadelphia, for Yorck, appellee.

Before WICKERSHAM, WIEAND and POPOVICH, JJ.

WIEAND, Judge.

May a defendant who has been sued on theories of negligence and strict liability for damages allegedly caused by a defective product join as additional defendants those persons whose acts of negligence are alleged by him to be the sole or contributing causes of the plaintiff's injuries? The trial court held that such joinder was improper and granted the additional defendants' motions for summary judgment with prejudice. We reverse.

Ignatius Svetz, while operating a motorcycle in a westwardly direction on Route 422 in Montgomery County on June 5, 1980, lost control of his vehicle, fell, and struck his head on the pavement. The impact caused the helmet which he was wearing to split, and Svetz sustained head injuries which caused his death. His trustee ad litem, Jane Svetz, filed wrongful death and survival actions against Land Tool Company, the manufacturer of the helmet, and against Royal Auto Supply, the retailer. The complaint set forth, in separate counts, causes of action sounding in (1) negligence and (2) strict liability. Land Tool Company, the manufacturer, joined as additional defendants (1) V.J.L., Inc., t/a Orchard View Inn, where the decedent, prior to the accident, had allegedly consumed alcoholic beverages while visibly intoxicated, and (2) John Yorck, with whom the decedent allegedly had been racing at the time when the decedent lost control of his motorcycle. Because of independent acts of negligence, it was alleged in the defendant's complaint, the additional defendants were alone liable to the plaintiff, or jointly liable with Land Tool Company on the cause of action alleged by the plaintiff, or liable over to Land Tool Company on such cause of action. Subsequently, both additional defendants filed motions for summary judgment. They argued that in a case of strict liability for a defective product, a defendant manufacturer is barred from joining an additional defendant whose liability, if any, is premised upon negligence. The trial court accepted this argument and, by separate orders, granted the motions for summary judgment and dismissed "all claims" against the additional defendants "with prejudice."

The right to join one or more additional defendants is granted by Pa.R.C.P. 2252(a) in the following language:

(a) In any action the defendant or any additional defendant may, as the joining party, join as an additional defendant any person whether or not a party to the action who may be alone liable or liable over to him on the cause of action declared upon by the plaintiff or jointly or severally liable thereon with him, or who may be liable to the joining party on any cause of action which he may have against the joined party arising out of the transaction or occurrence or series of transactions or occurrences upon which the plaintiff's cause of action is based. (emphasis added).

This rule permits the joinder of an additional defendant when any one of the following four bases of liability has been alleged: (1) that the additional defendant is solely liable to the plaintiff; (2) that the additional defendant is liable over to the joining party on the cause of action alleged; (3) that the additional defendant is jointly or severally liable with the joining party on the cause of action alleged by the plaintiff; or (4) that the additional defendant is liable to the joining party on any cause of action asserted by the joining party which arises out of the same transaction or occurrence or series of transactions or occurrences upon which the plaintiff's cause of action is based. The rule permitting the joinder of additional defendants is to be broadly construed to effectuate its purpose of avoiding multiple lawsuits "by settling in one action all claims arising out of the transaction or occurrence which gave rise to the plaintiff's complaint." Township of Upper Makefield v. Benjamin Franklin Federal Savings & Loan Association, 271 Pa.Super. 399, 402, 413 A.2d 726, 728 (1979). See: Incollingo v. Ewing, 444 Pa. 263, 289-291, 282 A.2d 206, 220-221 (1971); American Metal Fabricators Co. v. Goldman, 227 Pa.Super. 284, 287, 323 A.2d 891, 893 (1974).

In the instant case, the appellant-manufacturer asserted three separate bases for joining appellees as additional defendants: (1) that appellees were alone liable to the plaintiff; (2) that appellees were jointly or severally liable with appellant, i.e., for contribution; and (3) that appellees were liable over to the appellant-manufacturer by way of indemnification. The only substantive limitation placed upon the right to join an additional defendant on any of these grounds is that liability must be premised upon the same cause of action alleged by the plaintiff in his or her complaint. ¹ Pa.R.C.P. 2252(a). See: Township of Upper Makefield v. Benjamin Franklin Federal Savings & Loan Association, supra 271 Pa.Super. at 402-403, 413 A.2d at 728; Harker v. Farmers Trust Co., 248 Pa.Super. 427, 430, 375 A.2d 171, 173 (1977).

"Cause of action" has been defined as

[t]he fact or facts which give a person a right to judicial relief. The legal effect of an occurrence. A situation or state of facts which would entitle party to sustain action and give him right to seek a judicial remedy in his behalf.

Black's Law Dictionary (5th ed. 1979). The words "cause of action" as used in the rule must be construed "to mean 'damages or injuries.' " Staub v. Southwest Butler County School District, 263 Pa.Super. 413, 421, 398 A.2d 204, 207 (1979), aff'd, 489 Pa. 196, 413 A.2d 1082 (1980). See: 8 Goodrich-Amram 2d § 2252(a):6. In construing the rule, a

number of principles are to be kept in mind. Generally applicable to all the rules of civil procedure is Rule 126 which provides that "[t]he rules shall be liberally constructed [sic] to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action or proceeding to which they are applicable." Such an approach is particularly pertinent where multiple parties are involved since in such cases the primary intent of the rules is to avoid multiplicity of suits by providing for the adjudication of all the rights and liabilities of those present and concerned in a single suit. Martinelli v. Mulloy, 223 Pa.Super. 130, 299 A.2d 19 (1972). This Court has favored the policy of broadly interpreting Rule 2252 "not only to compel every interested person to defend the action by the plaintiff, but also to save the original defendant from possible harm resulting from loss of evidence as might result if compelled to await the end of the suit before proceeding against those from whom he seeks contribution." Martinelli v. Mulloy, supra, at 135, 299 A.2d 21.

Ragan v. Steen, 229 Pa.Super. 515, 525-526, 331 A.2d 724, 730 (1974).

The cause of action alleged by the plaintiff in the case sub judice was for damages resulting from the death of her decedent when the motorcycle being operated by the decedent went out of control and crashed. The plaintiff's complaint averred that a defective helmet had been a substantial factor in causing death. The appellant-manufacturer denied that the helmet had been defective and alleged that the decedent's loss of control, and hence his death, had been caused by the decedent's engaging in a race, while intoxicated, with another motorcyclist. Therefore, appellant joined as additional defendants the tavern keeper who, allegedly, had served alcoholic beverages to the decedent while the decedent was visibly intoxicated and the motorcyclist who had engaged in a race with the decedent. Because the additional defendants' alleged liabilities arose from the same cause of action sued upon by the plaintiff, i.e., for the fatal injuries sustained by the decedent as a result of the motorcycle accident, joinder of appellees as additional defendants was expressly allowed by Pa.R.C.P. 2252(a). It may well be that for this reason alone joinder can be sustained in this case. The trial court's opinion, however, cites additional reasons for dismissing the joinder of appellees as additional defendants; and, therefore, we proceed to a consideration of those issues.

It will be recalled that the trial court held joinder improper because plaintiff's claim against the appellant-manufacturer was based on principles of strict liability whereas, the appellant-manufacturer's claim for contribution from the additional defendants was based on negligence. However, the trial court overlooked the fact that plaintiff's cause of action against the appellant-manufacturer, as pleaded in separate counts of her complaint, was based on two theories, not one. The first count contained averments that the manufacturer had been guilty of negligence in designing and manufacturing the helmet worn by the decedent. Only the second count was based on principles of strict liability. In view of the averments of the first count of the complaint, joinder of additional defendants on theories of joint negligence was clearly proper. There was no reason for refusing to allow in one and the same action a claim by the defendant that the negligence of the additional defendants had contributed causally to the death of plaintiff's decedent.

The trial court's suggestion that a defendant who is liable under principles of strict liability is not entitled to seek contribution from one whose negligence combines to cause harm, moreover, is not consistent with the law in this Commonwealth. The Uniform Contribution Among Tortfeasors Act in Pennsylvania provides that a joint...