Apportioning Fault and Joint Torfeasors

Question 1

What is joint and several liability?

Answer 1

All defendants are viewed as equally liable for injuries to the plaintiff. Plaintiff may pursue any defendant of their choice for the full amount of damages sustained.

Question 2

What categories of cases allow for the imposition of joint and several liability?

Answer 2

1. Defendants acting in concert to bring about a harm - Bierczynski v. Rogers
2. Cases in which defendants share a common duty to the plaintiff (employer/employee, owner and driver of a car, owner and manufacturer of equipment)
3. Defendants act independently to cause an indivisible harm to the plaintiff

Question 3

How does joint and several liability interact with comparative negligence (two approaches)?

Answer 3

1. Court allows joint liability to coexist with comparative negligence. Think about scenario where is a defendant is judgement proof, but that defendant is 90% responsible. The courts will allow joint and several liability in cases like that - Coney v. JLG
2. Court does not allow joint liability to coexist with comparative negligence. This is the converse of the last situation, where it would be unfair to the defendant. Say one defendant is only 30% liable and the other flees. It would be unjust to hold him 100% liable when he only contributed 30% - Bartlett v. New Mexico