Woodburn v. Manco

• Court: Idaho Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: WALTERS, Justice.
• Citation: Woodburn v. Manco, 137 Idaho 502, 50 P.3d 997 (Idaho 2002)
• Decision Date: 02 July 2002
• Docket Number: No. 26852.,26852.
• Parties: Carl and Janet WOODBURN, and Carl Woodburn as Guardian Ad Litem of Cole Woodburn, a minor, and surviving brother of Tana Coleen Woodburn, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. MANCO Products, Inc., an Indiana corporation, Defendant-Respondent, and Andrew G. and Athena L. Dunn, husband and wife, dba Three Point Tractor Co., and John Does 1-5, Defendants.

50 P.3d 997

137 Idaho 502

Carl and Janet WOODBURN, and Carl Woodburn as Guardian Ad Litem of Cole Woodburn, a minor, and surviving brother of Tana Coleen Woodburn, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. MANCO Products, Inc., an Indiana corporation, Defendant-Respondent, and Andrew G. and Athena L. Dunn, husband and wife, dba Three Point Tractor Co., and John Does 1-5, Defendants.

No. 26852.

Supreme Court of Idaho, Boise, March 2002 Term.

July 2, 2002.

White Peterson, Nampa, for appellants. William F. Gigray, III argued.

Quane, Smith, L.L.P., Boise and Ford, Marrin, Esposito, Witmeyer & Gleser, L.L.P., New York, New York for respondent. Stuart C. Levene argued.

WALTERS, Justice.

This case involves whether Idaho law requires the negligence of a decedent to be automatically attributed to the plaintiff/heirs in a wrongful death action, and whether the trial court committed reversible error in failing to give an instruction to the jury based on Seppi v. Betty, 99 Idaho 186, 579 P.2d 683 (1978), which would have advised the jury of the effect of allocating negligence equally between the parties plaintiff and defendant. We hold that the district court did not err by aggregating the negligence of the decedent with that of plaintiffs and entering judgment in favor of the defendants. We also hold that the district court did not err by failing to give a Seppi instruction.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This is a wrongful death action brought by Janet and Carl Woodburn (the "Woodburns") for the death of their daughter, Tana Woodburn. Tana, then 13 years old, died while driving a go-cart designed and manufactured by Manco Products, Inc. ("Manco") when her hair became entangled in the chain and sprocket drive of the go-cart and broke her neck.

On October 15, 1997, the Woodburns, individually and as the representatives of Tana's estate, filed a complaint and demand for jury trial against Manco and ThreePoint Tractor of Homedale, Idaho, the retailer of the go-cart, seeking damages for the wrongful death of Tana. On March 22, 2000, the jury trial commenced. Prior to the conclusion of the case, the Woodburns requested the jury be given a special verdict form, which combined the negligence of the Woodburns and Tana, and which included instructions for the jury, as follows:

QUESTION NO. 11. We find that the parties contributed to the cause of the accident in the following percentages:

(a) Plaintiffs Carl Woodburn and Janet Woodburn/Decedent Tana Woodburn _______________% (b) Defendant Manco Products _______________%

If the percentage of causation for the Plaintiffs/Decedent is 50% or more, then you will not answer Question No. 12, but will simply sign the verdict form and inform the bailiff you are done.

If the percentage of causation for the Plaintiffs/Decedent is less than 50%, you will then answer Question Nos. 12 and 13. . . .

The trial judge did not use the plaintiffs' proposed special verdict form. Instead, the district court gave the jury a special verdict form, which contained questions for the jury to answer (a) determining the basis of the parties' liability and (b) the respective percentages of fault of the Woodburns, for Tana, and for the defendant, Manco Products, Inc. The trial judge did not instruct the jury of the court's intent to aggregate the fault of the decedent with that of the plaintiffs, nor did he instruct the jury of the consequences of finding fault on the part of the decedent and the plaintiffs that equaled or exceeded 50%.

On April 4, 2000, the jury rendered a special verdict finding the go-cart to be in an unreasonably dangerous and defective condition. The jury found Manco 50% negligent, the Woodburns 40% negligent, and Tana 10% negligent. The jury also found damages of $205,425 for Carl Woodburn and $205,425 for Janet Woodburn.

Following the jury's verdict, the trial judge ruled that Idaho law required the negligence of the Woodburns to be aggregated with the negligence attributed to Tana. Because this resulted in a total of 50% negligence attributable to the Woodburns, the trial judge ruled that the plaintiffs were barred from recovery under Idaho's comparative fault statute, I.C. § 6-1304. The trial judge also denied the Woodburns' motion for a new trial for failure to give a Seppi jury instruction regarding the effect of a jury finding the Woodburns to be at least 50% liable for Tana's accident. The Woodburns appeal these decisions.

ISSUES ON APPEAL

The Woodburns present two issues for resolution in this appeal. The first is whether the trial judge erred in holding that Idaho law requires the negligence of a decedent to be automatically attributed to the plaintiff/heirs in a wrongful death action. The second question is whether the trial judge erred in failing to give the Woodburns' requested jury instruction, or in refusing to grant a new trial for failing to give a Seppi instruction.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The issue regarding the attribution of a decedent's negligence to the heirs/plaintiffs in a wrongful death case involves a question of statutory interpretation. The determination of the meaning of a statute and its application is a matter of law over which this Court exercises free review. Kelso & Irwin, P.A. v. State Insur. Fund, 134 Idaho 130, 134, 997 P.2d 591, 595 (2000); J.R. Simplot Co. v. Western Heritage Ins. Co., 132 Idaho 582, 584, 977 P.2d 196, 198 (1999). If it is necessary for this Court to interpret a statute, then this Court will attempt to ascertain legislative intent, and in construing a statute, may examine the language used, the reasonableness of the proposed interpretations, and the policy behind the statute. Kelso & Irwin, P.A. at 134, 997 P.2d at 595. When reviewing a trial court's ruling on a motion for new trial, this Court applies an abuse of discretion standard. State v. Davis, 127 Idaho 62, 896 P.2d 970 (1995). In Sun Valley Shopping Center v. Idaho Power Co., 119 Idaho 87, 803 P.2d 993 (1991), this Court set out the test for evaluating whether a trial court has abused its discretion:

(1) Whether the lower court rightly perceived the issue as one of discretion; (2) whether the court acted within the outer boundaries of such discretion and consistently with any legal standards applicable to specific choices; and (3) whether the court reached its decision by an exercise of reason.

Id. at 600, 768 P.2d at 1333 (quoting Associates Northwest, Inc. v. Beets, 112 Idaho 603, 733 P.2d 824 (Ct.App.1987)).

I.

Did the trial judge err in holding that Idaho law requires the negligence of a decedent to be automatically attributed to the heirs in a wrongful death action?

Preliminarily to consideration of this inquiry, we are confronted with the argument by Manco that the doctrine of invited error bars the appeal of this issue. Manco asserts that even if there was any error in aggregating negligence, the Woodburns invited the error by requesting that an aggregation instruction be given to the jury. The purpose of the invited error doctrine is to prevent a party who caused or played an important role in prompting a trial court to give or not give an instruction from later challenging that decision on appeal. State v. Blake, 133 Idaho 237, 240, 985 P.2d 117, 120 (1999). We conclude that the invited error doctrine is inapplicable in this case because the instruction the Woodburns requested was never given to the jury; rather, the trial judge decided to aggregate the negligence after the special verdict was completed by the jury.

The Woodburns contend the trial judge erred in aggregating the negligence of the Woodburns with the negligence of Tana. The applicable statutes relevant to this case involve wrongful death and products liability. Idaho Code § 5-311, with respect to wrongful death actions, provides:

(1) When the death of a person is caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another, his or her heirs or personal representatives on their behalf may maintain an action for damages against the person causing the death, or in case of the death of such wrongdoer, against the personal representative of such wrongdoer, whether the wrongdoer dies before or after the death of the person injured. If any other person is responsible for any such wrongful act or neglect, the action may also be maintained against such other person, or in case of his or her death, his or her personal representatives. In every action under this section, such damages may be given as under all the circumstances of the case as may be just.

....

Idaho Code § 6-1304, with respect to comparative negligence, provides in pertinent part:

Comparative responsibility shall not bar recovery in an action by any person or his legal representative to recover damages for product liability resulting in death or injury to person or property, if such responsibility was not as great as the responsibility of the person against whom recovery is sought, but any damages allowed shall be diminished in the proportion to the amount of responsibility attributable to the person recovering.

The trial court's decision to aggregate the negligence allocated by the jury to Tana with that of the Woodburns was based upon Adams v. Krueger, 124 Idaho 74, 856 P.2d 864 (1993). Adams stands for the proposition that a plaintiff's negligence can be imputed to another plaintiff (a husband and wife in this case), if there is an independent legal basis to do so (e.g. vicarious liability and community property). In Adams, the plaintiff filed a malpractice claim against a doctor and the doctor's nurse. At trial, the jury found the nurse 41% negligent, the doctor 10% negligent, and the plaintiff 49% negligent. The plaintiff argued that the negligence of the defendants should be aggregated, allowing the plaintiff to recover. The trial court agreed and entered judgment against the doctor and the nurse. On appeal, this Court held the trial court properly imputed the nurse's negligence to the doctor under the doctrine of respondeat superior. With...