Jagers v. Royal Indem. Co., 52275

• Decision Date: 26 March 1973
• Docket Number: No. 52275,52275
• Parties: Mrs. Frances W. JAGERS v. ROYAL INDEMNITY COMPANY et al.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 309

276 So.2d 309

Mrs. Frances W. JAGERS v. ROYAL INDEMNITY COMPANY et al.

No. 52275.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

March 26, 1973.

Rehearing Denied May 7, 1973.

James A. Bolen, Jr., Alexandria, for plaintiff-respondent.

DIXON, Justice.

Plaintiff, a Louisiana resident, brought suit against her major son, a Louisiana resident who was a minor at the time of the accident, and their liability insurer. Her son, the driver of the car in which she was injured, was an insured by virtue of the policy provisions. The accident occurred in Mississippi.

After trial, there was judgment for the plaintiff against the defendant insurance company for $10,000, the policy limits, and against the plaintiff's son for an additional sum of $2648.44. The judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeal. 257 So.2d 806.

Defendant have assigned three errors: that the Mississippi doctrine of intra-family immunity should be applied by the Louisiana court because the accident occurred in Mississippi; that defendant Wesley Lynn Jagers was not negligent or, in the alternative, that his mother was contributorily negligent; that no judgment should have been rendered against Wesley Lynn Jagers in excess of the policy limits.

Intra-Family Immunity:

The Court of Appeal refused to accept defendants' argument concerning the Mississippi law of intra-family immunity, finding that none of the cases cited by defendants hold that a mississippi parent is prohibited from suing an adult son.

Relying on Deshotel v. Travelers Indemnity Company, 257 La. 567, 243 So.2d 259 (1971), in which we held that a father could bring an action against the liability insurer of his minor son, the Court of Appeal found that there was no prohibition in Louisiana that would prevent an action by this plaintiff against her adult son for damages arising out of an accident which occurred when the son was a minor.

The evidence in the case is not in dispute. The accident occurred August 21, 1969, a few days after hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi coast. Plaintiff's son, Wesley Lynn Jagers, who was born September 20, 1948, was driving the plaintiff's automobile when the accident occurred in Gulfport, Mississippi. He was, at that time, a student at Texas A & M, but was visiting his mother in Gulfport.

Plaintiff had obtained custody of her two children when she was divorced from her husband. Alexandria, Louisiana was her home. She had lived there for thirteen years and owned her home at 2311 Hill Street. Because she taught at a business school in the evening, plaintiff found it advisable to enroll her eleven-year-old son in the Gulf Coast Academy and to move to Gulfport to be near him until he had become acclimated to his new surroundings. She rented living quarters in Mississippi, but retained her home in Alexandria.

Plaintiff was registered to vote in Rapides Parish; her car was registered in Louisiana; she intended to return to Alexandria when she felt that her child could be left alone in school. (The policy of automobile insurance was issued to her by an Alexandria agency, and was mailed to her at her Alexandria address). However, she was employed in Mississippi, and had been there for three months at the time of the accident.

After the accident, the plaintiff remained in Mississippi until it became apparent in December, 1969 that she would require hospitalization. At that time she returned to Alexandria with the intention of remaining there permanently.

At the time of the trial, Wesley Lynn Jagers was twenty-two years old. He still resided with his mother at 2311 Hill Street, Alexandria, Louisiana, and was a student at Texas A & M.

We agree with the trial court and the Court of Appeal that plaintiff Frances W. Jagers and defendant Wesley Lynn Jagers were both domiciled in Louisiana at the time of the accident.

The principal defense in this suit is that the law of Mississippi would prevent this suit by a mother against her son. The cases cited by the defendants and our own meager research (CCP 1391) give little aid to defendants' cause. As a matter of fact, it seems that the Mississippi Supreme Court has decided in Lancaster v. Lancaster, 213 Miss. 536, 57 So.2d 302 (1952), that a major son could maintain a suit against his father for damages arising from an accident which occurred during the minority of the son. By analogy, it seems that Mississippi would allow Mrs. Jagers to sue her son, Wesley Lynn.

Fortunately, it is not essential for us to determine the law of Mississippi. There is no bar in Louisiana to a suit by a parent against a major child for a tort, even one committed during the minority of the child, ¹ and we are of the opinion that the law of Louisiana governs this action between these Louisiana domiciliaries.

This case presents a false conflict of laws question. 'Conflict of Laws is that part of the law of each state which determines what effect is given to the fact that the case may have a significant relationship to more than one state.' Restatement, Second, Conflict of Laws, § 2 (1969). A false conflict occurs when it is found that only a single state has an interest in the application of its law, and that the other state involved has no interest in the application of its law in the case. ²

Such a case of false conflict was Johnson v. St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company, 256 La. 289, 236 So.2d 216 (1970). There, Louisiana domiciliaries suffered an accident on a trip through Arkansas. During the subsequent litigation in Louisiana, the insurer invoked the Arkansas guest passenger statute. This court held that the law of the place of the tort governed because: (1) the doctrine contributed to certainty and constancy in the law; (2) methods proposed for applying the law of the forum are confusing and faulty; (3) there are constitutional limitations on the freedom of a state to apply its own law to all tort cases brought before it, imposed by the due process and the full faith and credit clauses of the United States Constitution; (4) that the application of the law of the forum to foreign courts gives extraterritorial effect to a state's laws; (5) that the application of the law of the forum is unfair to the defendant; (6) that rules for the application of the law of the forum are difficult to formulate.

No reason advanced for perpetuating the doctrine which would apply the law of the place of the tort, particularly in false conflicts cases like Johnson and the instant case, is either convincing or controlling. Johnson v. St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company, supra, is overruled.

When the foreign state has no interest in the application of its law in Louisiana litigation, we deem that the application of Louisiana law by Louisiana courts will contribute much greater predictability, certainty and constancy to the law.

That some modern methods for determining whether to apply the law of the forum are faulty in some respects should not deter a court in the application of the law of the forum to its citizens, when not otherwise prohibited. ³

Although there are constitutional limitations on the freedom of a state to deal with the laws of other states, the 'vested rights' theory ⁴ has not been raised to constitutional status, and states are allowed wide latitude in solving conflicts questions. See, Clay v. Sun Insurance Office, Ltd., 377 U.S. 179, 84 S.Ct. 1197, 12 L.Ed.2d 229 (1964); Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Mfg. Co., 313 U.S. 487, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477 (1941); Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938); Alaska Packers Asso. v. Industrial Accident Commission, 294 U.S. 532, 55 S.Ct. 518, 79 L.Ed. 1044 (1935). ⁵

See also Mitchell v. Craft, 211 So.2d 509 (Miss.1968), where the Mississippi Supreme Court applied the Mississippi doctrine of comparative negligence to a case involving Mississippi domiciliaries and arising out of an accident in Louisiana, where contributory negligence would have defeated the claim of one of the parties.

Certain extraterritorial effect is given to the laws of a state in a conflicts case, whether the law applied is the law of the forum or the law of the place of the tort. The application of the law of the place of the tort imports the law of the neighboring state to the forum state, usually to decide a case between citizens of the forum state, thus giving extraterritorial effect to the law of the place of the tort.

It cannot be said that the application of the law of the forum in a case like the one before us is unfair to the defendant. The application of the doctrine of the law of the forum has not infrequently resulted in judgments for the defendant. See, Koplik v. C.P. Trucking Corp., 27 N.J. 1, 141 A.2d 34 (1958), where the intra-spousal immunity law of New Jersey, the forum state, resulted in the dismissal of the wife's claim arising out of a New York tort, where there was no intra-spousal immunity.

It may be true that the formulation of rules for the application of the law of the forum in cases which might involve the law of more than one state is difficult. Difficulty, however, is no excuse for abandoning the judicial function. At least, in cases like the one before us and Johnson v. St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company, supra--cases of false conflict--there is no difficulty in deciding to apply the law of the forum. It would not advance any policy of the law of the place of the tort to apply its law, but it would defeat the policies of the state of the forum to apply the law of the foreign state. A contrary conclusion would defeat the policy the State of Louisiana continues to have--to protect its citizens from damage from the wrongful acts of others.

Therefore, we apply the law of the State of Louisiana to the parties before us. We find no impediment to a suit by a parent against her major child for a tort committed during his minority.

Negligence:

This accident occurred at an intersection controlled by a flagman because of a non-operating traffic signal. Wesley Lynn...