Burnett v. Columbus McKinnon Corp.

69 A.D.3d 58, 887 N.Y.2d 405
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedOctober 9, 2009
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 69 A.D.3d 58 (Burnett v. Columbus McKinnon Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burnett v. Columbus McKinnon Corp., 69 A.D.3d 58, 887 N.Y.2d 405 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Fahey, J.

The primary issue before us on this appeal is whether Supreme Court erred in granting plaintiffs’ motion for an order applying the substantive law of New York in this personal injury action. We conclude that the court should have determined that the substantive law of Indiana applies to this action, and we thus conclude that the order should be reversed and that defendant’s motion seeking that relief should be granted.

I

In May 2001, Doug Burnett (plaintiff) was injured when he was struck by a steel coil that fell from a hook manufactured by defendant and owned by his employer, New Millennium Building Systems, LLC. Defendant is a New York corporation, plaintiff was an Ohio resident, and the accident occurred in Indiana. After discovery was nearly completed, defendant moved for an order applying the substantive law of Indiana to this action. Plaintiffs responded by moving for an order applying the substantive law of New York, and sought alternative relief in the form of an order precluding defendant from asserting any nonparty defenses with respect to plaintiffs employer (see Ind Code § 34-51-2-14). The court granted plaintiffs’ motion seeking application of the substantive law of New York.

II

We begin this choice of law analysis by addressing two ancillary issues. First, as defendant correctly contends, the situs of [60]*60the tort in this matter is the place of the injury, rather than the location where the allegedly defective product was manufactured (see e.g. Schultz v Boy Scouts of Am., 65 NY2d 189, 195-197 [1985]; Devore v Pfizer Inc., 58 AD3d 138, 141 [2008], lv denied 12 NY3d 703 [2009]; cf. Kniery v Cottrell, Inc., 59 AD3d 1060, 1061 [2009]). Indeed, plaintiffs have conceded this issue by contending that the third of the three choice of law rules set forth in Neumeier v Kuehner (31 NY2d 121, 128 [1972]) governs our analysis in this matter.

Second, because New York is the forum state, i.e., the action was commenced here, “New York’s choice-of-law principles govern the outcome of this matter” (Padula v Lilarn Props. Corp., 84 NY2d 519, 521 [1994]). Plaintiffs’ contention that Indiana courts would have applied New York law if this action had been filed in that state is thus of no moment.

Ill

Turning to the merits, we note that “[t]he first step in any case presenting a potential choice of law issue is to determine whether there is an actual conflict between the laws of the jurisdictions involved” (Matter of Allstate Ins. Co. [Stolarz— New Jersey Mfrs. Ins. Co.], 81 NY2d 219, 223 [1993]; see Bodea v TransNat Express, 286 AD2d 5, 8 [2001]). Notably, there are two actual conflicts in this case.

First, New York has adopted a “pure” comparative negligence approach pursuant to which a plaintiffs fault may proportionally diminish the plaintiffs recovery but will not preclude such recovery unless the plaintiff was solely at fault (see CPLR 1411). By contrast, under the laws of Indiana and Ohio, a plaintiff may not recover if the percentage of fault attributable to him or her is greater than 50% of the total fault involved in the accident (see Ind Code §§ 34-51-2-6, 34-51-2-7; Ohio Rev Code Ann § 2315.33).

Second, under New York law, comparative fault may not be apportioned against the employer of an injured worker covered by workers’ compensation insurance unless that worker suffered a grave injury within the meaning of Workers’ Compensation Law § 11. Conversely, under Indiana law, the employer of an injured worker may be named as a “nonparty” for purposes of apportionment of fault even though the employer is immune from being sued and no damages may be recovered from the employer (see Ind Code §§ 34-51-2-7, 34-51-2-14; Witte v Mundy ex rel. Mundy, 820 NE2d 128, 133 [Ind 2005]; Bulldog Battery [61]*61Corp. v Pica Invs., Inc., 736 NE2d 333, 338 [Ind 2000]). No issues with respect to the comparative fault laws in Ohio have been advanced by the parties.

Having recognized an actual conflict, we must identify “the significant contacts and in which jurisdiction they are located” (Padula, 84 NY2d at 521). The “interest analysis” test used in resolving choice of law conflicts gives “controlling effect ... to the law of the jurisdiction which, because of its relationship or contact with the occurrence or the parties, has the greatest concern with the specific issue raised in the litigation” (Schultz, 65 NY2d at 196 [internal quotation marks omitted]; see Bodea, 286 AD2d at 9). “In most cases, [the] significant facts or contacts consist exclusively of the parties’ domiciles and the place of the tort” (Bodea, 286 AD2d at 9; see Schultz, 65 NY2d at 197). Here, the significant contacts are the domiciles of plaintiffs (Ohio) and defendant (New York), as well as the place of the tort (Indiana). As previously noted, however, plaintiffs do not seek to apply the substantive law of their own domicile but, rather, they seek to apply the substantive law of defendant’s domicile, i.e., New York, while defendant seeks to apply the substantive law of Indiana.

The next step in our analysis is to determine whether the conflicting laws are intended to regulate conduct or to allocate loss (see Bodea, 286 AD2d at 9). In the event that they are intended to regulate conduct, “such as standards of care,” the conflict of laws issue is typically resolved by applying the law of the place of the tort (Cooney v Osgood Mach., 81 NY2d 66, 72 [1993]; see Bodea, 286 AD2d at 9). That is not the case here, however. Rather, in this case the conflicting laws at issue “allocate losses after the tort occurs” (Cooney, 81 NY2d at 66; see Padula, 84 NY2d at 522; Bodea, 286 AD2d at 9). We thus must determine which of the three rules set forth in Neumeier (31 NY2d at 128) applies.

In Neumeier, the issue before the Court of Appeals was whether the “guest statute” contained in the no-fault legislation of the Province of Ontario, providing that the owner or driver of a vehicle is not liable for damages resulting from injury or death to a guest-passenger unless he or she was guilty of gross negligence, would apply against a New York defendant. The Court thus set forth three rules to employ in determining that issue, and those rules have subsequently been applied to tort actions involving conflicting loss allocation laws (see Bodea, 286 AD2d at 10; see also Cooney, 81 NY2d at 73; Monroe v [62]*62NuMed, Inc., 250 AD2d 20 [1998], lv dismissed 93 NY2d 999 [1999]). The rules are as follows:

1. Where the parties share a common domicile, the law of the common domicile controls (see Neumeier, 31 NY2d at 128; Bodea, 286 AD2d at 10).

2. Where the parties are domiciled in different states, the situs of the tort is in a state in which a party is domiciled and the law in that state favors the domiciliary, the law of the place of injury will apply (see Neumeier, 31 NY2d at 128; Bodea, 286 AD2d at 10).

3.

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Bluebook (online)
69 A.D.3d 58, 887 N.Y.2d 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burnett-v-columbus-mckinnon-corp-nyappdiv-2009.