Chambers v. Dakotah Charter, Inc.

Decision Date03 June 1992
Docket Number17404,Nos. 17400,s. 17400
Citation488 N.W.2d 63
PartiesCharlotte CHAMBERS and Glenn Norman Chambers, Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. DAKOTAH CHARTER, INC., a South Dakota corporation, Defendant and Appellee.
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court

Jon C. Sogn of Lynn, Jackson, Shultz & Lebrun, Sioux Falls, for plaintiffs and appellants.

John E. Simko and Mark Mickelson, Legal Intern of Woods, Fuller, Shultz & Smith, Sioux Falls, for defendant and appellee.

ZINTER, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs, Charlotte and Glenn Chambers (Charlotte or Chambers), appeal from a jury verdict in favor of Defendant, Dakotah Charter, Inc. (Dakotah Charter). The questions presented on appeal are (1), whether South Dakota courts should continue to follow the choice of laws rule of lex loci delecti (law of the place of the wrong) in multi-state tort actions and (2), whether the trial court should have applied the Missouri law of comparative negligence in an action between South Dakota domiciliaries arising from an accident on a bus in Missouri. The trial court declined to follow lex loci delecti, and it applied the South Dakota law of comparative negligence. We affirm.

In May 1989, Charlotte and thirty-four other South Dakota residents chartered a bus in Sioux Falls from Dakotah Charter, a South Dakota corporation. The purpose of the trip was to attend a Tae Kwon Do tournament in Arkansas. While en route from South Dakota to Arkansas, the bus stopped on three occasions for the convenience of the passengers and refueling. The first and second stops, in Omaha, Nebraska and St. Joseph, Missouri, occurred without incident. On the third stop, in Nevada City, Missouri, Charlotte fell on the steps in the bus and severely fractured her ankle.

Chambers commenced actions for personal injury and loss of consortium. Chambers contended that Dakotah Charter negligently failed to maintain the interior of the bus in a safe condition. Charlotte specifically contended that she fell on a discarded piece of candy that was distributed to children by Dakotah Charter's bus driver during the first leg of the trip. Dakotah Charter denied Chambers' allegations and also contended that Charlotte was contributorily negligent.

Although the contributory negligence of a plaintiff no longer constitutes an absolute bar to recovery in either South Dakota or Missouri, each state's comparative negligence law is slightly different. Missouri is a pure comparative negligence state. Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo.1983). Under Missouri law, if a plaintiff is determined to be contributorily negligent in any degree, the plaintiff may still recover, but the plaintiff's damages are reduced by the percentage of fault that is attributed to the plaintiff's conduct. Id. Under South Dakota law, a contributorily negligent plaintiff's damages are also reduced in proportion to the amount of the plaintiff's contributory negligence. A contributorily negligent plaintiff may not, however, recover anything in South Dakota if the plaintiff's negligence is more than slight in comparison with the negligence of the defendant. SDCL 20-9-2. 1

Based upon the three special concurrences in Owen v. Owen, 444 N.W.2d 710 (S.D.1989), the trial court declined to follow the traditional rule of lex loci delicti and apply the Missouri law of comparative negligence. Instead, the trial court instructed the jury under South Dakota's comparative negligence statute. Chambers argue that, under lex loci delicti or the modern approaches discussed in Owen, the trial court should have given Chambers' proposed instruction which incorporated Missouri law. We disagree.

Our standard of review of the trial court's instructions is well established. An appellant has the burden to show not only that the instruction given was in error, but also that it was prejudicial error to the effect that under the evidence, the jury might and probably would have returned a different verdict if the appellant's instructions had been given. Lytle v. Morgan, 270 N.W.2d 359, 362 (S.D.1978).

CHOICE OF LAWS APPROACH

Until 1989 this Court has followed an unqualified rule of lex loci delicti to govern the choice of laws in multi-state tort actions. See Owen, 444 N.W.2d 710; Heidemann v. Rohl, 86 S.D. 250, 194 N.W.2d 164 (1972). Although we did not formally abandon lex loci delecti in Owen, the "majority" opinion, written by Morgan, J. and concurred in by Wuest, C.J., took the first step in that direction when it adopted a public policy exception to the rule "to avoid applications that are repugnant to the public policy of our state." Owen, 444 N.W.2d at 713. Although the three remaining members of this Court concurred in the Owen result, they voted by special concurrence to "[j]oin the vast majority of jurisdictions which [have] abolish[ed] the archaic and rigid rule of lex loci in favor of an approach which gives flexibility and addresses conflicts of laws issues in a responsible and equitable manner." Id. at 714-715 (Miller, J., concurring specially, joined by Henderson and Sabers, JJ.). Although the reasons for abandonment of the rule were well articulated by present Chief Justice Miller in Owen, 444 N.W.2d at 715, our adoption of lex loci delecti in Heidemann and stare decisis warrant a further limited discussion of reasons for abandonment of the traditional rule.

Lex loci delecti is a judge made rule of law that is based on the doctrine of vested rights. In Babcock v. Jackson, 12 N.Y.2d 473, 240 N.Y.S.2d 743, 746, 191 N.E.2d 279, 281 (1963), the case that led many courts to abandon lex loci delecti, the New York Court of Appeals explained that:

The traditional choice of law rule, embodied in the original Restatement of Conflict of Laws (§ 384), and until recently unquestioningly followed in this court ..., has been that the substantive rights and liabilities arising out of a tortious occurrence are determinable by the law of the place of the tort.... It had its conceptual foundation in the vested rights doctrine, namely, that a right to recover for a foreign tort owes its creation to the law of the jurisdiction where the injury occurred and depends for its existence and extent solely on such law.... Although espoused by such great figures as Justice HOLMES ... and Professor Beale ... the vested rights doctrine has long since been discredited because it fails to take account of underlying policy considerations in evaluating the significance to be ascribed to the circumstance that an act had a foreign situs in determining the rights and liabilities which arise out of that act. 'The vice of the vested rights theory', it has been aptly stated, 'is that it affects to decide concrete cases upon generalities which do not state the practical considerations involved'.... More particularly, as applied to torts, the theory ignores the interest which jurisdictions other than that where the tort occurred may have in the resolution of particular issues. It is for this very reason that, despite the advantages of certainty, ease of application and predictability which it affords ..., there has in recent years been increasing criticism of the traditional rule by commentators and a judicial trend towards its abandonment or modification. (citations omitted).

Twenty years ago we adopted lex loci delecti in Heidemann, 194 N.W.2d at 169. At that time we noted that lex loci delecti was the prevailing rule. Id. at 167. Although Babcock had been decided at that time, we declined to adopt a modern approach until a satisfactory substitute was developed because we noted "considerable confusion and inconsistency" in the application of modern rules. Id. at 169. We observed, however, that the condition was perhaps characteristic of any transitional period in a changing law era. Id.

The transition to a new approach has continued since Heidemann. Today only fifteen states still retain the traditional rule, 2 and the majority of states which have chosen a new approach have adopted some version of the significant relationship approach. See generally Smith, Choice of Law in the United States, 38 Hastings L.J. 1041 (1987); Kay, Theory into Practice: Choice of Law in the Courts, 34 Mercer L.Rev. 521 (1983). Furthermore, courts have started to overcome the inconsistency we noted Heidemann, at least in cases such as this one which involves contributory/comparative negligence. 3 Because a discernible trend toward one modern approach has developed among states which have abandoned the traditional rule and because substantial precedent is developing under the modern approaches, we now join the clear majority and abandon lex loci delecti to govern choice of laws analysis in multi-state tort actions. Heidemann and other cases to the contrary are modified as hereinafter provided.

Having abolished lex loci delecti as South Dakota's choice of law rule, we turn to the adoption of an appropriate modern approach. The selection of the proper modern approach has been the subject of much discussion by scholars and courts. See Owen, 444 N.W.2d at 714 n. 2. Although three members of this Court expressed a preference in Owen for the "choice-influencing considerations" approach refined by Professor Robert A. Leflar, 4 we left the matter for further analysis. Subsequent analysis by others has provided thoughtful insight into the adoption of an appropriate modern approach. See Thatcher, Choice of Law in Multi-State Tort Actions after Owen v. Owen: The Less Things Change ..., 35 S.D.L.Rev. 372 (1989-1990).

No less than six approaches are in current use in one or more combinations. 5 This diversity has been caused in part by substantial disagreement among scholars about fundamental questions underlying each approach. Unfortunately, there is probably less consensus among the scholars today than ever before. Kramer, Rethinking Choice of Law, 90 Colum.L.Rev. 277, 279 (1990). Nevertheless, of the modern approaches, the three most generally accepted by courts...

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