Hall v. General Motors Corp.
| Decision Date | 12 May 1998 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 196929 |
| Parties | , Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,297 Wayne A. HALL, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US |
Grenn & Grenn, P.C. by Frederick M. Grenn and Margaret P. Andrews, Dearborn, for plaintiff-appellee.
Bowman and Brooke by Peter H. Webster, Detroit, for defendant-appellant.
Before SAAD, P.J., and O'CONNELL and M.J. MATUZAK, * JJ.
Plaintiff's personal injury, products liability claim against General Motors Corporation raises a choice-of-law question of first impression under Michigan law: is plaintiff's residency at the time of injury or at the time of filing suit controlling? Because plaintiff resided in North Carolina when injured, and in Michigan when he brought suit, we must decide which residency controls. This determination will dictate the outcome of plaintiff's claim because, other than the residency of plaintiff, all significant factors here point to the application of North Carolina law. Plaintiff lived and worked in North Carolina when he was injured by a vehicle owned, registered, licensed, and insured in North Carolina, and he subsequently received medical treatment in North Carolina. The only connection this incident has to Michigan is plaintiff's postinjury move to Michigan. 1
If North Carolina law applies, its six-year statute of repose would bar plaintiff's claim. 2 Because the vehicle was sold in 1975 and the injuries occurred in 1994 (well beyond the six-year statute of repose), plaintiff's claim would be barred under North Carolina law. On the other hand, plaintiff's claim could be pursued under Michigan law, which has no statute of repose and whose three-year statute of limitations 3 would not bar plaintiff's 1996 suit arising out of a 1994 injury.
For the reasons discussed below, we hold that plaintiff's residency at the time of injury is controlling under Michigan's choice-of-law jurisprudence. Accordingly, North Carolina's statute of repose bars plaintiff's claim. We therefore reverse the circuit court's denial of GM's motion to dismiss, and remand for dismissal consistent with this opinion.
In 1994, while a resident of North Carolina, plaintiff worked as a mechanic for Bunn's Mobile Truck Repairs. In his capacity as a mechanic, plaintiff injured himself as he worked on a 1975 Chevrolet Camaro manufactured by GM. Plaintiff asserts that defective design of the relevant part of the vehicle caused his injury; therefore, plaintiff's claims are predicated on products liability theories.
At the time of the accident, the vintage vehicle was registered, licensed and insured in North Carolina and of course, owned by a North Carolina resident. The vehicle was manufactured at the GM/Norwood, Ohio plant. GM's world headquarters are in Detroit, but GM does business in all fifty states. 4 GM has facilities in North Carolina and does substantial business there, including purchasing materials and parts to be incorporated into its automobiles.
After plaintiff's injury, but before suit was filed, plaintiff moved from North Carolina to Michigan. Following his move to Michigan, plaintiff continued to receive medical treatment in North Carolina.
After plaintiff filed suit in Michigan, GM filed its motion to dismiss, contending that, pursuant to Michigan choice-of-law analysis, North Carolina law applied and that North Carolina's statute of repose barred plaintiff's suit. In response, plaintiff asserted that the law of the forum state (Michigan) should apply because plaintiff's Michigan residency when the complaint was filed should be determinative, and therefore both plaintiff and GM were Michigan residents.
In denying GM's motion to dismiss, the trial court concluded that residency is typically determined as of the date the complaint is filed. Therefore, for purposes of its choice-of-law analysis, the trial court incorrectly treated plaintiff as a Michigan resident. The court also erroneously ruled that, if residency were determined as of the date of injury, Michigan law would apply because this would be GM's expectation, given that the vehicle was designed in Michigan. Finally, the court found that North Carolina's statute of repose should not be applied through Michigan's borrowing statute 5 because that statute permits Michigan to borrow another state's statute of limitations, not a statute of repose. 6
In tort cases, Michigan courts use a choice-of-law analysis called "interest analysis" to determine which state's law governs a suit where more than one state's law may be implicated. See Sutherland v. Kennington Truck Service, Ltd., 454 Mich. 274, 278-286, 562 N.W.2d 466 (1997). Although this balancing approach most frequently favors using the forum's (Michigan's) law, Michigan courts nonetheless use another state's law where the other state has a significant interest and Michigan has only a minimal interest in the matter:
[W]e will apply Michigan law unless a "rational reason" to do otherwise exists. In determining whether a rational reason to displace Michigan law exists, we undertake a two-step analysis. First, we must determine if any foreign state has an interest in having its law applied. If no state has such an interest, the presumption that Michigan law will apply cannot be overcome. If a foreign state does have an interest in having its law applied, we must then determine if Michigan's interests mandate that Michigan law be applied, despite the foreign interests. [Id., at 286, 562 N.W.2d 466.]
Here, we conclude that Michigan's interest is minimal and that North Carolina has a significant interest in having its law applied.
As noted above, plaintiff lived in North Carolina, worked for a North Carolina employer, and was injured in North Carolina by a vehicle owned, registered, licensed, and insured in North Carolina, and plaintiff subsequently received medical treatment at Duke Medical Center in North Carolina. North Carolina, therefore, obviously has a substantial interest in applying its law to this dispute.
Michigan case law reveals additional reasons why North Carolina has a substantial interest in applying its law to this dispute. In Farrell v. Ford Motor Co., 199 Mich.App. 81, 501 N.W.2d 567 (1993), the plaintiff's decedent (a North Carolina resident) was killed in an automobile accident that occurred in North Carolina, allegedly as a result of a defective transmission. In Farrell, defendant Ford made the identical argument advanced by GM here--that North Carolina's six-year statute of repose barred the plaintiff's claim. Applying Michigan's choice-of-law rules, the Farrell panel held that North Carolina law applied to bar the claim. The Farrell Court's conclusion and reasoning is significant and pertinent to our inquiry:
Plaintiff contends that because the policy behind the statute of repose is to protect manufacturers from "open-ended" liability After thorough review, we are satisfied that North Carolina has an obvious and substantial interest in shielding Ford from open-ended products liability claims. Ford unquestionably generates substantial commerce within the State of North Carolina.... It is obviously in North Carolina's economic interest to encourage manufacturers, such as Ford, to do business in North Carolina. The sales taxes collected, salaries paid, and materials purchased all contribute to North Carolina's economy. The presence of a Ford manufacturing plant within the borders of North Carolina is not dispositive with regard to the economic interests at issue. [Id. at 92-93, 501 N.W.2d 567.]
stemming from the manufacture or design of their products, the only reasonable interest North Carolina can assert is the protection of those who conduct manufacturing and design activities within its borders. According to plaintiff, Ford has no such facilities in North Carolina and thus North Carolina has no interest in applying its law for the protection of Ford....
Here, North Carolina has the identical interest in shielding GM from "open ended products liability claims" that it did in shielding Ford from such claims in Farrell: it is in North Carolina's economic interest to encourage GM to do business in its state. As in Farrell, we conclude that North Carolina has a substantial interest in having its law applied to this dispute.
On the other hand, the state of Michigan has a minimal interest in having its law applied to this dispute. We again look to Farrell, where our Court stated:
Michigan has little or no interest in this North Carolina accident involving a North Carolina resident. Michigan has no interest in affording greater rights of tort recovery to a North Carolina resident than those afforded by North Carolina. Michigan is merely the forum state and situs of defendant's headquarters. Such minimal interests are insufficient to justify the result-oriented forum shopping that has been attempted. [Id. at 94, 501 N.W.2d 567 (emphasis added; citation omitted).]
Similarly, here, the accident occurred in North Carolina, injuring plaintiff, who, at the time of injury, was a North Carolina resident working on a vehicle registered in North Carolina.
However, plaintiff attempts to distinguish Farrell (where the plaintiff was a North Carolina resident both at the time of injury and at the time of filing suit ) by arguing that plaintiff here is a Michigan resident (i.e., that although he was a North Carolina resident at the time of injury, he moved to Michigan before filing suit). He contends that, if plaintiff is considered a Michigan resident, this fact is sufficient to "tip the scales" toward application of Michigan law. As noted above, the effect of a plaintiff's postinjury change of residency on the choice-of-law analysis is an issue of first impression in Michigan....
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