Matney v. Blue Ribbon

• Decision Date: 30 December 1942
• Docket Number: 36690.
• Citation: 12 So.2d 253,202 La. 505
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Parties: MATNEY v. BLUE RIBBON, Inc., et al.

12 So.2d 253

202 La. 505

MATNEY v. BLUE RIBBON, Inc., et al.

No. 36690.

Supreme Court of Louisiana

December 30, 1942

Rehearing Denied Feb. 1, 1943.

E. W. & P. N. Browne and Charles B. Emery, all of Shreveport, for applicant.

Booth & Lockard, of Shreveport, for respondents.

McCALEB Justice.

The plaintiff, Mrs. C. W. Matney, a married woman residing in the state of Texas, received personal injuries in an accident which occurred on March 2, 1940 near the city of Shreveport Louisiana, when an automobile operated by her husband, and in which she was a passenger, collided with another car driven by one C. F. Ray.

Plaintiff thereafter brought this suit in the District Court of Caddo Parish against Blue Ribbon, Inc., a Texas corporation and the employer of her husband, and the Great American Indemnity Company, a New York corporation and the liability insurance carrier of her husband's employer, to recover damages for the injuries she received, claiming that her injuries were attributable to the negligence of her husband who was, at the time of the accident, engaged in the performance of his duties as an employee of Blue Ribbon, Inc.

In due course, the defendants appeared and filed a number of dilatory exceptions to plaintiff's petitioner which were overruled by the court. In addition, the defendants interposed an exception of no right or cause of action. This exception was predicated on the theory that, since Mrs Matney was a married woman domiciled in Texas and therefore governed by its laws and since, under the law of Texas, an action in damages for the personal injuries received by a married woman was community property and could be asserted by her husband only, the plaintiff was without right to institute the suit and stand in judgment. For purposes of the trial of this exception, a stipulation was entered into by the litigants, wherein it was agreed that, under the law of Texas, Article 4619 of Vernon's Civil Statutes, and the jurisprudence of the State, the items of damage claimed by the plaintiff would belong to the community of acquets and gains in Texas and that an action for recovery of such damages in the courts of Texas could be maintained only by plaintiff's husband in his own name. In support of the exception defendants' counsel relied mainly on the case of Williams v. Pope Manufacturing Co., 52 La.Ann. 1417, 27 So. 851, 50 L.R.A. 816, 78 Am.St.Rep. 390.

The district judge, being of the opinion that the decision of the court in the abovecited case was in point and that he was consequently bound by it, sustained defendant's exception and dismissed plaintiff's suit. Plaintiff thereafter appealed to the Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, where the ruling of the trial judge was reversed, defendants' exception overruled and the case remanded for further proceedings.

In its opinion, the Court of Appeal stated that the decision of this court in Williams v. Pope Manufacturing Co. was plainly in conflict with the settled jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of the United States and other federal and state courts and that it could not be distinguished in principle from those foreign authorities. But, believing that the views entertained in those jurisdictions enunciated a sound principle which should be adopted in Louisiana, it suggested that this court grant writs of certiorari and review in order that we could decide whether the conclusion in the Williams case should be maintained. Upon application of the defendants, writs were accordingly granted and the matter is now before us for decision.

It will be seen, from the foregoing statement, that the question presented in the case arises out of a conflict in the law of this State and that of Texas. Under Louisiana law, the right of a married woman to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by her through the fault of another is her separate property for which she alone can bring suit. Article 2334 of the Civil Code, as amended by Act No. 170 of 1912 and Act No. 186 of 1920, which treats of the separate and common property of married persons, declares in part that: 'The earnings of the wife when living separate and apart from her husband * * * actions for damages resulting from offenses and quasi offenses * * * are her separate property.'

And, Article 2402 of the Civil Code, as amended by Act No. 68 of 1902, which deals with the property forming the community of acquets and gains, provides in part: 'But damages resulting from personal injuries to the wife shall not form part of this community, but shall always be and remain the separate property of the wife and recoverable by herself alone; * * *.' (Italics ours).

Hence, there can be no doubt that Mrs. Matney, having been injured in this State through the alleged negligence of another, is granted both a substantive and remedial right under our law to sue for and recover damages in our courts. But counsel for the defendants say that the right accorded to married women under Articles 2334 and 2402 of the Civil Code extends only to married women residing in Louisiana and that, since the plaintiff lives in Texas (where the right of action for personal injuries to a married woman is the property of the community and can be asserted only by her husband), the doctrine applicable under the conflict of laws is lex loci situs, and not lex loci delicti or lex fori. Let us see.

At the outset, it is well to note that an action in tort is transitory in its nature and may be brought in any jurisdiction in which the wrongdoer is found. See 11 American Jurisprudence Verbo 'Conflict of Laws', Section 180, page 487. It is also firmly imbedded in the jurisprudence of this country that all matters relating to the right of action in tort are governed by the lex loci delicti, or the place where the wrong was committed. See 11 American Jurisprudence � 182, page 490; Northern Pacific R. Co. v. Babcock, 154 U.S. 190, 14 S.Ct. 978, 38 L.Ed. 958, 16 Rose's Notes on U. S. Reports 1126, and Ormsby v. Chase, 290 U.S. 387, 54 S.Ct. 211, 78 L.Ed. 378, 92 A.L.R. 1499. Therefore, it would seem to follow that the plaintiff in this case is entitled to have her rights determined under Louisiana law.

The question presented here is not novel. On the contrary, there is a wealth of precedent from the federal and other state courts on this precise proposition. The unanimous view is that a married woman residing in one state, who is wrongfully injured in another state, may maintain an action in damages in the latter where the law of that state gives her a right of action, notwithstanding the fact that, in the state of her residence, the right of action is community property and recoverable only by her husband. It is only necessary, in the instant matter, to mention some of the cases decided by the federal courts which announce this principle.

In Texas & P. R. Co. v. Humble, 181 U.S. 57, 21 S.Ct. 526, 528, 45 L.Ed. 747, the plaintiff, a married woman residing in Louisiana, filed suit in Arkansas to recover for injuries sustained by her in Arkansas as the result of negligence of the defendant railroad company. Her claim was resisted on the ground that, under the law of Louisiana which prevailed at that time, the right of action to recover for her personal injuries belonged to the community and that her husband alone had the right to maintain the suit. Under the law of Arkansas, however, she was granted a cause and right of action which she could assert in her own name. The Supreme Court of the United States, in upholding her right to bring the action in Arkansas in her own name for and on account of her sole and separate estate, observed: 'However, whether the objection be that under the laws of Louisiana she could not recover in her own name at all, or could not, except her husband was a coplaintiff, because the damages claimed were community property, we agree with the circuit court of appeals that plaintiff's rights in suing in Arkansas for an injury sustained there did not differ from those of any married woman domiciled in that state; that the legislature of Arkansas had determined by whom a suit might be brought for personal injuries sustained by a married woman; had enlarged the rights of married women in respect of damages recoverable by them on account of personal injuries sustained within the state; and that these laws necessarily inured to the benefit of every married woman who subsequently sued in the courts of the state for personal injuries there sustained, and must be held to have been intended to have, and to have, a uniform operation throughout the state.'

The court further declared: 'These injuries were inflicted and this action was brought in the state of Arkansas. The place of the wrong and the place of the forum concurred, and the law of that place governed. If an action should be brought in Louisiana, the fact that the law of Arkansas differed from that of Louisiana would not prevent its application, unless opposed to some general public policy, the existence of which is not to be assumed.' (Italics ours.)

In Traglio v Harris, 9 Cir., 104 F.2d 439, 441, 127 A.L.R. 803, the plaintiff, a resident of California where community property law obtained, was injured in an automobile accident in Oregon and she brought suit in the United States District Court of Oregon to recover damages. The defendants contended that her claim could not be maintained because the injuries she received were due to the contributory negligence of her son which was...