Section 30 Effect of Settlement on Liability of Other Tortfeasors

• Library: Damages 2012

Section 537.060, RSMo 2000, states that a release given in good faith to one tortfeasor does not release other tortfeasors unless
it so provides. In Hampton v. Safeway Sanitation Services, Inc., 725 S.W.2d 605, 608 n.6 (Mo. App. E.D. 1987), the court referred to the Illinois appellate court’s decision regarding the meaning
of “good faith” in Lowe v. Norfolk & Western Railway Co.,
463 N.E.2d 792 (Ill. App. 1984). In the Illinois appellate decision, the court held that “a settlement will be considered in good faith when no tortious or wrongful conduct on the part of the settling defendant has been shown.” Id. at 803. The definition that equates good faith with the absence of tortious or wrongful conduct was further applied in a Missouri case by the same name. See Lowe v. Norfolk & W. Ry. Co., 753 S.W.2d 891 (Mo. banc 1988).

Some defendants whose liability is based solely on vicarious liability have tried to argue that they are released as a result of a settlement and release of the employee...