## Facts

- Evelyn Langland and her husband were guest passengers in a car owned and driven by Kenneth E. Knell.
- At 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., Knell’s car collided with a taxicab owned by Ralph L. Feltman and driven by Feltman’s employee.
- Mrs. Langland suffered serious injuries; she and her husband sued only Feltman for damages.
- Feltman filed a third-party complaint against Knell, alleging Knell’s negligence caused or contributed to the collision; Knell denied negligence, alleged Feltman was solely at fault, and counterclaimed for his own injuries.
- The plaintiffs did not assert any claim directly against Knell.
- A jury found both Feltman’s driver and Knell negligent and that each party’s negligence contributed to the collision.
- The jury awarded the plaintiffs $11,500 against Feltman; the court entered judgment requiring Knell to contribute $5,750 to Feltman upon payment of the plaintiffs’ judgment.

## Issues

1. Whether contribution between concurrent negligent tortfeasors requires that both be judgment debtors to the plaintiff (i.e., a joint judgment against both).
2. Whether contribution is barred when each tortfeasor personally participated in the negligent conduct, given the traditional rule denying contribution among joint tortfeasors.

## Decision

- The D.C. Circuit affirmed the judgment requiring Knell to contribute one-half of the plaintiffs’ recovery to Feltman.
- The court held that a joint judgment against both tortfeasors is not a prerequisite to contribution.
- The court held that contribution is available among concurrent tortfeasors whose wrongdoing is unintentional negligence, even when each is personally negligent.
- The court concluded that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 14 permits impleader of a person who may be liable for all or part of the plaintiff’s claim, and the contribution right cannot turn on the plaintiff’s decision to sue only one tortfeasor.

## Legal Principles

- Contribution may be enforced between concurrent tortfeasors whose liability rests on unintentional negligence, notwithstanding the historic no-contribution rule associated with intentional wrongdoing.
- A defendant may seek contribution from another negligent actor even if the plaintiff obtained judgment only against the defendant and never sued the other tortfeasor.
- Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 14 allows impleader of a third party who may be liable to the defendant for all or part of the plaintiff’s claim; this procedural posture supports adjudicating contribution in the same action.
- The right of contribution is a right between tortfeasors to allocate common liability equitably and is not controlled by the injured plaintiff’s choice of defendants.

## Conclusion

The court upheld contribution between concurrent negligent drivers and ruled that neither a joint judgment nor the absence of vicarious liability bars contribution; the right may be asserted through Rule 14 impleader even when the plaintiff sues only one tortfeasor.


Knell v. Feltman, 174 F.2d 662 (D.C. Cir. 1949)