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57 Tenn. L. Rev. 199 (1989-1990)
Moving to Comparative Negligence in an Era of Tort Reform: Decisions for Tennessee

handle is hein.journals/tenn57 and id is 217 raw text is: MOVING TO COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE IN AN ERA OF TORT REFORM: DECISIONS FOR TENNESSEE CAROL A. MUTTER* I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................... 199 II. THE CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE RULE ....................... 206 A. Basic Principles, Rationales, and Exceptions ........ 206 B. Contributory Negligence in Tennessee ................. 210 C. Remote Contributory Negligence in Tennessee ...... 214 III. COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE-THE MAJORITY RULE ........ 227 A. Development of Comparative Negligence in the United States .................................................. 227 B. Arguments For and Against Comparative N egligence ...................................................... 230 1. Fairness ................................................... 230 2. Apportionment of Responsibility .................. 234 3. Litigiousness and Insurance Rates ................. 237 IV. FORMULATING THE APPROPRIATE COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE FRAMEWORK ....................................... 245 A. Pure Versus Modified Comparative Negligence ..... 245 B. Selecting a Modified Comparative Negligence A pproach ....................................................... 255 C. Recovering from Multiple Defendants-Unit Rule Versus Wisconsin Rule ..................................... 258 D. Dealing with Nonparty Fault ............................. 262 V. EFFECT OF COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE ON OTHER TORT D OCTRINES ............................................................ 274 A . Last Clear Chance ........................................... 274 B. Intentional Conduct and Aggravated Negligence ... 277 C. Assumption of Risk ......................................... 284 D . Strict Liability ................................................. 294 E. Joint and Several Liability ................................ 303 V I. C ONCLUSION .......................................................... 319 I. INTRODUCTION The common-law defense of contributory negligence, barring tort recovery against a negligent defendant by a plaintiff who was also * Associate Professor of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law. B.A., 1968, University of Tennessee; J.D., 1975, Georgetown University Law Center. The author wishes to thank Cynthia Gallaher, Shaun Brown, Patrick Keller, Richard Atwood, and Thomas Beasley for their research assistance, and Professors Joseph King and Jerry Phillips for their insightful comments.

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