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Reichert v. Atler12/18/1992
nts are under a duty to protect their patrons, public policy requires that Defendants should be held jointly and severally liable, and that application of comparative negligence in the present case is improper because a special relationship existed between Defendants and Castillo, e.g., dramshop owner and patron, or that of licensor-licensee, imposing a greater duty of care upon Defendants to protect Castillo and other customers. Plaintiff additionally argues that unless joint and several liability is held to exist here, the holdings in ; ; and , involving the defendants' duty of care, would be undermined. We find these arguments unpersuasive.
Although we agree with Plaintiff that Defendants were under a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect Castillo and others from harm by other patrons, considering the basic objectives of Scott to apportion liability based on the degree of fault of the parties causing the loss, we do not believe this duty gives rise to the creation of a public-policy exception or a special relationship subjecting Defendants to joint and several liability for Castillo's death. The special relationship noted in Medina was a relationship--the employer-employee relationship--which the common law has long found to be an appropriate basis for imposing liability without fault. To impose liability on a negligent tortfeasor beyond the percentage of that tortfeasor's comparative fault is to impose liability without fault. Plaintiff has not pointed to any common law tradition of imposing upon tavernkeepers liability without fault for injuries to patrons caused by the intentional misconduct of other patrons. In the absence of a special relationship upon which the common law has predicated liability without fault, Medina provides no basis for making Defendants jointly and severally liable in this case. Nor do we agree that application of the doctrine of comparative
fault under the circumstances shown here is inherently unfair or is inconsistent with the results reached in Schear, Lopez, and Methola. Unfairness would result by treating equally one in Defendants' position who is very negligent and one who is minimally negligent. Under the rule of comparative fault, Defendants are held accountable in damages for the full amount of their culpability. Additionally, as discussed above, Defendants may also be held accountable for punitive damages in appropriate cases where the facts and pleadings of Plaintiff support such claim.
IV. Conclusion
For the reasons stated above, we affirm the district court except as to its ruling holding Defendants jointly and severally liable for the full amount of the judgment. The cause is remanded to the district court with instructions to enter a new judgment consistent with the court's alternative findings of fact and Conclusions of law. The parties shall bear their own costs.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
THOMAS A. DONNELLY, Judge
WE CONCUR:
PAMELA B. MINZNER, Judge
HARRIS L HARTZ, Judge
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