Jensen v. Intermountain Health Care, Inc.

Dale Jensen died from medical negligence by a physician employed by Intermountain (defendant); his wife Shirley (plaintiff) sued both the physician and Intermountain, settling with the physician before trial and proceeding to trial against Intermountain alone. The jury returned a special verdict finding Dale 46 percent negligent, Intermountain 36 percent negligent, and the physician 18 percent negligent. The trial court initially entered judgment for Shirley but then reversed itself, applying the "Wisconsin" rule (comparing Dale's negligence individually against each defendant rather than against their combined total) to dismiss the case, since Dale's 46 percent exceeded each individual defendant's separate share. Shirley appealed.