Danielson v. National Supply Co.

• Decision Date: 14 October 2003
• Docket Number: No. A03-325.,A03-325.
• Citation: 670 N.W.2d 1
• Parties: Curt DANIELSON, Appellant, v. NATIONAL SUPPLY COMPANY, a division of Affinity Group, d/b/a Camping World, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Court of Appeals

670 N.W.2d 1

Curt DANIELSON, Appellant, v. NATIONAL SUPPLY COMPANY, a division of Affinity Group, d/b/a Camping World, Respondent.

No. A03-325.

Court of Appeals of Minnesota.

October 14, 2003.

Kevin S. Carpenter, Carpenter Injury Law Office, St. Cloud, MN, for appellant.

Gordon H. Hansmeier, Sarah L. Smith, Rajkowski Hansmeier Ltd., St. Cloud, MN, for respondent.

Considered and decided by KLAPHAKE, Presiding Judge, PETERSON, Judge, and MINGE, Judge.

OPINION

MINGE, Judge.

Appellant, a Minnesota resident, sued respondent retailer in Minnesota for injuries suffered in Arizona while using a ladder purchased from a store of respondent in Texas. The district court dismissed appellant's claim on the grounds that it was time barred under the law of both of the other states and the doctrine of forum non conveniens. Because the district court should have applied Minnesota's statute of limitations, and because the doctrine of forum non conveniens does not support dismissal, we reverse.

FACTS

Appellant Danielson is a Minnesota resident and operates a contracting business in this state during part of the year. He also spends approximately half the year traveling in a motor home in the southern part of the United States. In early 2000, Danielson bought a stepladder from respondent's Camping World store in Mission, Texas. On February 13, 2000, Danielson was using the ladder in Arizona when he fell and injured his foot. Danielson believed the ladder was defective and eventually returned it to Camping World in Mission, Texas. Danielson received medical treatment in Arizona and Minnesota but did not fully recover from his injuries and sought compensation. When Danielson determined that both the manufacturer and distributor of the ladder had gone out of business, he filed suit against Camping World in Minnesota.

Camping World is the trade name used by National Supply Company, a division of the Affinity Group, Inc., a Delaware corporation with its principal offices in Colorado. The Camping World division has its principal office in Kentucky, and stores in many states, including at least one store in Texas and one store in Minnesota. It has a registered agent for service of process in Minnesota. The record is silent as to whether Camping World has a store in Arizona or is otherwise amenable to jurisdiction in that state. Danielson claims he patronized the Texas Camping World store because he had visited its Minnesota store and preferred to do business with a familiar firm.

Camping World does not dispute that Danielson purchased the ladder at its Mission, Texas store. Nor does Camping World dispute that Danielson returned the ladder to that store. However, the record indicates that Camping World has not been able to identify the employees who sold the ladder to Danielson or who dealt with him when he returned the ladder.

Danielson's injury occurred on February 13, 2000, and he did not commence this action until after February 13, 2002. Because the statutes of limitation in Texas and Arizona are two years, the statutes of limitation in those states have already run. But the applicable statute of limitations in Minnesota is six years.

Camping World moved to dismiss Danielson's claim as time barred under either Texas or Arizona law and forum non conveniens. The district court ruled that Texas or Arizona law applied and that accordingly, Danielson's claim was time barred. The district court also dismissed Danielson's claim on the ground of forum non conveniens. Danielson argues that Minnesota law applies, that his claim is therefore timely, and that the claim should not have been dismissed on the ground of forum non conveniens.

ISSUES

1. Does Minnesota's statute of limitations apply to a product-liability claim brought in Minnesota by a Minnesota resident for injuries occurring in a second state for a product purchased in a third state?

2. Was it an abuse of discretion for the district court to dismiss this action on the ground of forum non conveniens?

ANALYSIS

I. CHOICE OF LAW

We first decide whether the district court erred by not applying the Minnesota statute of limitations. We treat choice-of-law questions as questions of law and review them de novo. See Reed v. Univ. of N.D., 543 N.W.2d 106, 107-08 (Minn.App. 1996) (framing issue as whether district court erred in its choice-of-law analysis). Traditionally when a conflict-of-law issue arises, the preliminary step is to decide whether the question is substantive or procedural. If the matter is one of substantive law, Minnesota applies a multistep choice-of-law analysis, which includes application of five choice-influencing considerations, to determine which state's law applies. Jepson v. Gen. Cas. Co. of Wis., 513 N.W.2d 467, 469 (Minn.1994). This analysis was initially adopted in Milkovich v. Saari, 295 Minn. 155, 203 N.W.2d 408 (1973). On the other hand, if the matter is one of procedural law, Minnesota follows the "almost universal rule that matters of procedure and remedies [are] governed by the law of the forum state." Davis v. Furlong, 328 N.W.2d 150, 153 (Minn.1983) (citation omitted).

Here the matter involves conflicting statutes of limitations. Thus, we must decide both whether Minnesota follows the substantive/procedural distinction with respect to statutes of limitation and if so, whether a statute of limitations is procedural or substantive. The Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws speaks to part of this issue noting that traditionally, "the courts usually characterized statutes of limitation as procedural." Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 142 cmt. e (1971). However, the Restatement observes that courts

no longer characterize the issue of limitations as ipso facto procedural and hence governed by the law of the forum. Instead, the courts select the state whose law will be applied to the issue of limitations by a process essentially similar to that used in the case of other issues of choice of law.

Id.

A. Statutes of Limitation as Procedural Approach

There is some ambiguity as to what approach Minnesota follows. In 1940, the Minnesota Supreme Court took the approach that statutes of limitation are procedural. In re Daniel's Estate, 208 Minn. 420, 427, 294 N.W. 465, 469 (1940). The Minnesota Supreme Court took the same approach in 1963. Am. Mut. Liab. Ins. Co. v. Reed Cleaners, 265 Minn. 503, 506 n. 1, 122 N.W.2d 178, 180 n. 1 (1963). And this court followed that approach in 1989. United States Leasing Co. v. Biba Info. Processing Servs., Inc., 436 N.W.2d 823, 825 (Minn.App.1989), review denied (Minn. May 24, 1989).

But Minnesota has not been consistent. In 1974, the Minnesota Supreme Court applied the modern approach in deciding whether to apply Minnesota's statute of limitations. Myers v. Gov't Employees Ins. Co., 302 Minn. 359, 363-64, 225 N.W.2d 238, 241 (1974). In Myers, the plaintiffs were residents of Minnesota and were involved in an automobile accident in Louisiana. Id. at 360-61, 225 N.W.2d at 240. The plaintiffs sued the defendant insurance company in Minnesota, seeking to apply Louisiana's direct action statute. Id. Had they brought their claim in Louisiana, it would have been barred by Louisiana's one-year statute of limitations. Id. Under Minnesota's statute of limitations, their claim was timely. Id. The Minnesota Supreme Court addressed whether the Louisiana direct action statute created a substantive right, then applied choice-of-law analysis to determine that the Louisiana direct action statute should apply and that the Minnesota statute of limitations should apply. Id. at 363-64, 225 N.W.2d at 241-243. In so doing, the court analyzed both the direct action statute and the statute of limitations issues under the five choice-influencing considerations set forth in Milkovich. Id. The court in Myers did not cite, much less purport to overrule, the traditional rule that statutes of limitation are procedural and are governed by the law of the forum.

Although the Minnesota Supreme Court has not directly revisited the statute of limitations issue since the decision in Myers, in 1983 it referenced the Myers decision in a footnote. Davis, 328 N.W.2d at 152 n. 2. The Davis court declined to recognize any exception to the rule that matters of procedure are governed by the law of the forum. Id. at 153.¹ The Myers decision is also called into question by a more recent case, which, in the context of forum non conveniens, characterized statutes of limitation as procedural. Kennecott Holdings Corp. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 578 N.W.2d 358, 361 n. 7 (Minn.1998).

Under the cases of American Mutual and In re Daniel's Estate, the statutes of limitation are procedural.² Am. Mut., 265 Minn. at 506 n. 1, 122 N.W.2d at 180 n. 1; In re Daniel's Estate, 208 Minn. at 427, 294 N.W. at 469. And since the law of the forum governs procedural issues, we would apply the Minnesota statute of limitations in this case. Pursuant to this analysis, appellant's claim is timely because it was filed before the end of Minnesota's six-year statute of limitations.

B. Choice-Influencing Consideration Approach

It appears from the Restatement that courts are increasingly recognizing that the statute of limitations is outcome determinative, that it may be inappropriate to use the procedural classification, and that determining what statute of limitations is to be applied should be decided the same as substantive law conflicts generally. Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 142 cmt. e. Because Minnesota has shown some inclination to apply the choice-influencing considerations analysis, we will also apply that analysis to this case.

The threshold stage in the choice-influencing consideration analysis is to establish that there actually is a true conflict of laws and that more than one state's law may be constitutionally applied. Neither question is at issue in this case. The next stage in this analysis is to apply five choice-influencing...