An Enticement to Double Recovery?

CALIFORNIA COURT REFUSES TO ALLOW POST-VERDICT SETOFFS OF POTENTIAL BANKRUPTCY TRUST CLAIMS

Evidence of claims by plaintiffs to asbestos bankruptcy trusts is critical to the defense of any asbestos case. In California, for example, Volkswagen of America Inc. v. Superior Court (Rusk) (2006) 139 Cal.App.4th 1481, highlighted the importance of the discovery of such claims for purposes of setoffs and establishing a defendant’s proportional share of damages.

Volkswagen held that “[s]ince each party who shares responsibility for any asbestos-related disease from which a claimant suffers is liable only for its proportionate share of noneconomic damages, each will understandably be concerned to determine whether the claimant has overstated its share of responsibility.  . . . The number of days and the conditions under which a claimant was exposed to the asbestos-containing materials of one responsible party bears directly upon the extent of the liability of the others. Each therefore will have very good reason to compare what a claimant has said in this regard in supporting a claim against another responsible party.”

Perhaps recognizing the uphill battle they face in protecting such claims from disclosure in discovery, plaintiffs in the litigation have modified their tactics. Instead of making claims to the asbestos bankruptcy trusts prior to or during litigation, many plaintiffs now wait until after their civil case has settled or gone to trial to make these claims. The purpose is deception and double recovery. If no claims have been made, there is nothing to discover, and therefore nothing to offset against a plaintiff’s verdict. So what is a defendant to do?

Paulus v. Crane Co., No. B246505 (2/21/14) considered an appeal that presented two issues, one of which was whether the trial court erred in not reducing the damages awarded against defendant Crane Co. to account for settlements plaintiffs could obtain from asbestos bankruptcy trusts, but had not at the time of trial. The trial court’s decision was affirmed.

Crane argued that California Code of Civil Procedure section 877 and the court’s broad equitable powers gave it the authority to offset potential claims. In just a single page of analysis in the 15-page decision, Paulus focused on the language of 877 restricting setoffs to settlements given “before verdict or judgment,” and further found that the court’s equitable powers did not give it the power to modify a judgment for a settlement that “may or may not be sought.”

Of particular concern was the court’s rejection of Crane’s argument that refusing a setoff in this case was tantamount to permitting a double recovery, finding that “[i]f a later settlement subsequently allows plaintiff a double recovery, that does not retroactively make the instant judgment improper.” (emphasis in original) Paulus also rejected Crane’s argument that plaintiff’s failure to obtain available settlements constituted failure to mitigate damages, holding that the duty to mitigate is a matter to be decided by the fact finder at trial, and “not something to be raised on new evidence after judgment.”

A step backward from Volkswagen?

The abbreviated discussion of the bankruptcy trust issue in Paulus masks the significance of its holding, which is effectively that so long as a plaintiff waits to make a bankruptcy trust claim, he may double recover at will.  Although Paulus may be technically correct that California Code of Civil Procedure 877 says “before judgment,” it gives short shrift to the court’s broad equitable powers, giving a ruling that is effectively form over substance and frustrates the Volkswagen court’s policy aims of ensuring that plaintiffs are not permitted double recovery.

Lessons from Paulus

After Paulus, a defendant would be well advised to look carefully at a plaintiff’s work history in a pending action, and proffer appropriate evidence to the trier of fact relating to claims that could be made but were not.

This is not the first time courts of appeal have failed to award offsets to defendants in asbestos cases, where defendants have not had evidence about future settlements in asbestos cases. See Garcia v. Duro-Dyne 156 Cal.App.4th 92 (2007). Recent efforts by defendants have shown that pursuit of discovery about exposure to bankrupt entities’ products during the case has led to inconsistent claiming patterns.

Defendants can and should make efforts to obtain their own affirmative evidence, rather than rely on the “goodwill” of the court on what might happen. This evidence can support affirmative defenses such as mitigation of damages, or affirmatively support claims for offset, and make it harder for trial courts and courts of appeal to turn a blind eye to these practices.