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White v. Quechee Lakes Landowners' Association9/24/1999
On Appeal from Windsor Superior Court
This is an indemnity case concerning the tragic death of a woman who lost consciousness in a sauna owned and operated by third-party plaintiff Quechee Lakes Landowners' Association. The plaintiff in the underlying action, Anthony White, obtained a $450,000 settlement from Quechee Lakes following the close of evidence in a wrongful death suit in which he claimed that Quechee Lakes's negligence caused his wife's death. Following the settlement, Quechee Lakes filed suit seeking indemnity from the manufacturer and distributor of the sauna heating unit and control panel, third-party defendant Helo Factories, Ltd. The superior court granted summary judgment in favor of Helo, and Quechee Lakes now appeals that judgment. We agree with the superior court that, as a matter of law, Quechee Lakes is not entitled to indemnification; accordingly, we affirm the court's judgment.
I. Facts and Procedural History
Quechee Lakes owns and operates a health club for the recreational use of its members. The club maintains saunas within its men's and women's locker room facilities. Helo manufactured the heating unit and control panel used in the women's sauna, but was not involved in designing or constructing the sauna itself. In 1973, before ownership of the resort was transferred to the Quechee Lakes Landowners' Association, the developer hired an independent contractor to construct the sauna. Quechee Lakes operated and maintained the sauna without incident until February 1, 1994, when Elizabeth White was found lying unconscious on the floor of the sauna. She died several days later as the result of irreversible hyperthermia, leaving behind her husband and three young children.
Anthony White filed two wrongful death actions, one against Quechee Lakes in the superior court in January 1995, and the other against Helo in federal court approximately one year later. The federal case eventually settled. In the state court action, Mr. White alleged that Quechee Lakes failed to implement necessary safeguards concerning use of the women's sauna, including screening users, monitoring use, posting an adequate warning sign, and adding an automatic shutoff device, a timer, a clock, a thermometer, and a window in the sauna door. He also alleged that a Quechee Lakes employee negligently turned up the heat while his wife was in the sauna, without first checking to see if anyone was inside.
In turn, Quechee Lakes filed a third-party complaint against Helo, but the parties agreed to sever that complaint and postpone its resolution pending the outcome of the underlying action, which was contested in an eight-day trial in October 1997. Following the close of evidence in that trial, but before the case was submitted to the jury, the parties reached a $450,000 settlement agreement. The agreement explicitly reserved Quechee Lakes's right to seek indemnification from Helo, stating that the settlement was not for any active or independent negligence on Quechee Lakes's part.
After the underlying action settled, Helo and Quechee Lakes filed opposing motions for summary judgment regarding the third-party complaint. Relying on the Restatement of Restitution ยง 95 (1937), which this Court adopted in Bardwell Motor Inn, Inc. v. Accavallo, 135 Vt. 571, 573, 381 A.2d 1061, 1062 (1977), the superior court ruled that Helo was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the implied indemnification claim because for twenty years preceding the accident Quechee Lakes had acquiesced in the continuation of any dangerous condition in the sauna attributable to Helo. After its motion for reconsideration was rejected, Quechee Lakes filed this appeal, arguing that the s
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