§ 32.003.Recovery

The formula, and it is arithmetic rather than judgment.

The paying defendant may recover from each codefendant against whom judgment is rendered an amount determined by dividing the number of all liable defendants into the total amount of the judgment.

That is per capita contribution: equal shares by head count. Three liable defendants, three equal shares, whatever each did.

It is a blunt rule, and deliberately so. The proportionate responsibility chapter allocates by percentage of responsibility and governs most tort cases; this chapter applies where that scheme and every other source is absent, and equal division is the default that needs no findings.

Subsection (b) handles insolvency: where a codefendant is insolvent, recovery is an amount determined by dividing the number of solvent defendants into the total amount of the judgment.

So the insolvent defendant’s share is spread across the solvent ones, and the loss from insolvency falls on the defendants collectively rather than on whoever happened to pay.

That is the fairer of the two possible rules. The alternative would leave the paying defendant bearing the shortfall alone, which turns contribution on the accident of who paid first.

Subsection (c) preserves the claim against the insolvent defendant: each defendant has a right to recover from the insolvent defendant the amount the defendant has had to pay because of the insolvency.

Insolvency is a condition, not a discharge. A defendant whose circumstances improve remains liable to those who covered their share, and the right belongs to each of them for what they paid.