Link-Belt Co. v. Star Iron & Steel Co.

This is an action by Link-Belt Company, a division of FMC Corporation (hereinafter Link-Belt) against Star Iron and Steel Com *26 pany (hereinafter Star) to recover the amount of a judgment which Link-Belt has been required to pay on account of the wrongful death of a man named Green and the personal injuries suffered by a man named Harris. Star moved for summary judgment upon the principle that a party who has been found actively negligent in causing a particular occurrence has no cause of action for implied indemnification. 1 The motion was granted and judgment for Star was entered, from which Link-Belt appeals.

The action for personal injuries and wrongful death (hereinafter the Green-Harris case) arose out of the collapse of a crane owned by the City of Los Angeles and used at Los Angeles Harbor. In 1959 Link-Belt acquired the crane, used, for the purpose of modifying and reselling it to the city. Link-Belt entered into a written contract with Star, whereby Star, for a price of $22,000, agreed to remodel and repair the crane in certain respects, replace certain parts and restore the crane “to good running condition.” After Star completed its work at Tacoma,…

I dissent. I believe there are triable issues of fact in the case at bench.

The majority upholds the summary judgment in favor of defendant Star on the theory that plaintiff Link-Belt’s cause of action against Star is necessarily an action for indemnification, and that Link-Belt cannot recover because of the law of implied indemnity which precludes recovery by a plaintiff found to be actively negligent.

The majority’s views are based upon dicta. The major premise of the majority is that there can be no cause of action for breach of an implied contract, such as an implied warranty of merchantability or fitness, without the application of the indemnity doctrine of active-passive negligence, if the plaintiff’s cause of action is predicated on shifting a tort liability of plaintiff to defendant. I do not consider this premise to be well founded.

The second premise of the majority, which follows from acceptance of the first premise, is that some species of active negligence on the part of Link-Belt was adjudicated in the Green-Harris litigation, and that this determination precludes any triable issue on this matter between Link-Belt and Star in the case before us. This second…

This is an action by Link-Belt Company, a division of FMC Corporation (hereinafter Link-Belt) against Star Iron and Steel Company (hereinafter Star) to recover the amount of a judgment which Link-Belt has been required to pay on account of the wrongful death of a man named Green and the personal injuries suffered by a man named Harris. Star moved for summary judgment upon the principle that a party who has been found actively negligent in causing a particular occurrence has no cause of action for implied indemnification. [1] The motion was granted and judgment for Star was entered, from which Link-Belt appeals.

The action for personal injuries and wrongful death (hereinafter the Green-Harris case) arose out of the collapse of a crane owned by the City of Los Angeles and used at Los Angeles Harbor. In 1959 Link-Belt acquired the crane, used, for the purpose of modifying and reselling it to the city. Link-Belt entered into a written contract with Star, whereby Star, for a price of $22,000, agreed to remodel and repair the crane in certain respects, replace certain parts and restore the crane "to good running condition." After Star completed its work at Tacoma,…