Alexander v. General Motors Corp.
| Decision Date | 25 November 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. S96G0657,S96G0657 |
| Citation | 267 Ga. 339,478 S.E.2d 123 |
| Parties | , Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 14,796, 96 FCDR 4131 ALEXANDER v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Professor L. Lynn Hogue, Georgia State Univeristy, Atlanta, Kenneth F. Dunham, Marietta, Chris Jensen, Atlanta, Margaret N. Paton, Marietta, for Phillip Alexander, Jr.
Terry R. Howell, Lord, Bissell & Brook, Atlanta, for General Motors Corp.
Corliss L. Worford, Lord, Bissell & Brook, Atlanta.
Alexander was injured while driving in Virginia when the driver's seat of his General Motors vehicle, purchased new in Georgia, failed in a collision and caused him to be ejected from the vehicle. He sued General Motors in Georgia under a strict liability theory. The trial court granted partial summary judgment to General Motors, ruling that because the injuries occurred in Virginia, that state's substantive law would be applied. Because there is no strict liability action under Virginia law, the trial court dismissed those claims and permitted Alexander to amend the complaint to state a claim based on negligence under Virginia law. The Court of Appeals affirmed that judgment, concluding that since Virginia products liability law is not radically dissimilar to Georgia law and pursues similar public policy by different methods, it does not contravene Georgia public policy, and the "public policy" exception to the rule of lex loci delicti does not apply. 1 We granted Alexander's petition for certiorari to consider whether, since Virginia does not recognize recovery on the basis of strict liability, the application of the rule of lex loci delicti would contravene the public policy embodied in OCGA § 51-1-11. For the reasons stated below, we conclude that the rule of lex loci delicti should not be applied, and reverse the contrary decision of the Court of Appeals.
The opinion by the Court of Appeals correctly states the choice of law principles applicable to this case, including the public policy exception to the rule of lex loci delicti. However, the conclusion in that opinion that "Virginia products liability law is not radically dissimilar to Georgia law but rather pursues a similar public policy by somewhat different methods," misses the crucial point that Georgia's public policy of shifting to manufacturers the burden of loss caused by defective products is effectuated by precisely those "somewhat different methods."
As is pointed out in the majority opinion of the Court of Appeals, Virginia does not recognize a claim for strict liability in tort in products liability actions. See also Harris v. T.I., Inc., 243 Va. 63, 413 S.E.2d 605 (1992). Instead, Virginia continues to rely on warranty law and negligence principles. Abbot v. American Cyanamid Co., 844 F.2d 1108, 1114 (4th Cir.1988). In a claim for breach of an implied warranty of merchantability, which the majority opinion of the Court of Appeals describes as Virginia's "functional equivalent" to strict liability, Virginia law requires one injured by an allegedly defective product to notify the manufacturer of the breach of implied warranty within a reasonable time. Hebron v. American Isuzu Motors, Inc., 60 F.3d 1095 (4th Cir.1995). In Georgia, however, OCGA § 51-1-11 imposes strict liability in tort...
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