Cipolla v. Shaposka

47 Pa. D. & C.2d 176, 1969 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 250
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Delaware County
DecidedApril 7, 1969
Docketno. 9972 of 1967
StatusPublished

This text of 47 Pa. D. & C.2d 176 (Cipolla v. Shaposka) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Delaware County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cipolla v. Shaposka, 47 Pa. D. & C.2d 176, 1969 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 250 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1969).

Opinion

DIGGINS, J.,

This action was instituted by the parents and natural guardians of Michael F. Cipolla, a minor, against defendant, John Shaposka, Jr., as a result of an accident which transpired on January 24, 1966, at approximately 7:50 p. m. The accident occurred on Naamans Road on the outskirts of Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware. At that time, defendant, a resident of the State of Delaware, was operating a 1955 Buick in which minor plaintiff, a resident of Pennsylvania, was a passenger and, by virtue of the accident, allegedly sustained personal injuries. Defendant filed preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer contending that under the applicable statutory provisions of the State of Delaware, specifically the “Guest Statute,” plaintiffs are precluded from recovery. Defendant’s preliminary objections also averred lack of jurisdiction; however, defendant does not press this [177]*177issue. Thereafter, depositions of both minor plaintiff and defendant were taken. Presently, defendant requests the court to consider his demurrer in the nature of a motion for summary judgment in accordance with Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1035. Plaintiffs have agreed to this procedure thereby permitting us to consider the pleadings, depositions and an affidavit filed by plaintiffs in disposing of the issue here presented.

The depositions taken of minor plaintiff and defendant indicate that these parties were schoolmates at the Brown Technical School in Wilmington, Delaware. On the day in question, after school had ended, minor plaintiff and defendant went bowling at the Center City Lanes in Wilmington, Delaware, with another schoolmate. At all times herein pertinent, defendant was operating a 1955 Buick registered in the name of his father. After bowling, defendant, minor plaintiff, and the classmate drove to the latter’s home, same being located in Claymont, Delaware. Thereafter, defendant and minor plaintiff left the classmate’s home intending to proceed to the home of minor plaintiff in Chadds Ford, Pa., for the purposes of taking minor plaintiff there and of allowing defendant to pick up some tools which defendant had previously lent to minor plaintiff. The subject accident occurred while the parties were proceeding to minor plaintiffs home on Naaman’s Road on the outskirts of Wilmington, Delaware and in the State of Delaware.

The depositions further indicate that defendant resides in Elsmere, Delaware, and that the subject vehicle was registered in Delaware in the name of defendant’s father who also is a citizen and resident of the State of Delaware. The record discloses that it had snowed prior to the date of the accident and that at the time of the accident there were accumulations of [178]*178snow on both sides of the road toward the shoulder; the subject roadway was clear with the exception of a limited number of ice patches. Although minor plaintiff could not state defendant’s speed, defendant testified that he was travelling at 35-40 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone. Moreover, minor plaintiff stated that defendant was driving in a normal fashion. The testimony indicates that defendant’s vehicle struck a patch of ice and, despite efforts to control the vehicle, swerved into a vehicle heading in the opposite direction. Shortly thereafter, minor plaintiff was taken to the Wilmington Hospital. Minor plaintiffs parents are residents of Chadds Ford, Pa., and the liability insurance carrier for defendant’s vehicle is Allstate Insurance Company of Valley Forge, Pa.

Title 21 of the Delaware Code, annotated, sec. 6101 (2), provides as follows:

“No person transported by the owner or operator of a motor vehicle ... as his guest without payment for such transportation shall have a cause of action for damages against such owner or operator for injury, death or loss, in case of accident, unless such accident was intentional on the part of such owner or operator or was caused by his willful or wanton disregard of the rights of others.”

Plaintiffs apparently concede that defendant was guilty only of ordinary negligence; plaintiffs do not contend, in their brief, nor did they contend at argument, that defendant was guilty of intentional misconduct or willful or wanton misconduct. Nor does the record support either of the latter types of misconduct. Accordingly, for our purposes, we shall assume that defendant was guilty of negligence but not guilty of intentional, willful or wanton misconduct. Of course, this assumption is not intended to adjudicate [179]*179the factual question pertaining to the presence or absence of negligence.

The precise issue to be resolved is whether, under the facts and circumstances here present, the law of Delaware is to be applied, in which event plaintiffs would be precluded from recovery, or whether the law of Pennsylvania is to be applied, in which event the cause would proceed to trial and judgment. It is our considered judgment that the law of Delaware should be applied to the facts and circumstances present in the instant case, and thus that the motion for summary judgment should be granted. We are not unmindful of the principle that summary judgment can be entered only in clear cases; however, we deem the instant case to be of that type.

Until more recently, the traditional rule of lex loci delicti was rather uniformly followed throughout the country. Such was the rule in Pennsylvania, viz., that the law of the place of the wrong determined the rights and liabilities of the parties. See, inter alia, Mike v. Lian, 322 Pa. 353, and Bednarowicz v. Vetrone, 400 Pa. 385. However, the traditional concepts of the law in this area have been the subject of modification and change such that other jurisdictions have abandoned or replaced the former rigid concepts with other or more flexible rules and standards. See, inter alia, Babcock v. Jackson, 12 N. Y. 2d 473, 191 N. E. 2d 279; Auten v. Auten, 308 N. Y. 155, 124 N. E. 2d 99; Hopkins v. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Supreme Court of Florida, 201 So. 2d 743; Wilcox v. Wilcox, 26 Wis. 2d 617, 133 N. W. 2d 408; Johnson v. Johnson, 107 N. H. 30, 216 A. 2d 781; Mellk v. Sarahson, 49 N. J. 226, 229 A. 2d 625; Clark v. Clark, 107 N. H. 351, 222 A. 2d 205; and Schneider v. Nichols, 280 Minn. 139, 158 N. W. 2d 254.

[180]*180Nor has Pennsylvania been spared from the tides of change. In Griffith v. United Air Lines, Inc., 416 Pa. 1, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, after exhaustively reviewing the leading authorities and cases, concluded that the strict lex loci delicti rule should be abandoned in Pennsylvania in favor of a rule which permits analysis of the policies and interests underlying the particular issue before the court. The court stated, at pages 21-2:

“As said in Babcock v. Jackson, supra, 12 N. Y. 2d at 481-82, 191 N. E. 2d at 283, 240 N. Y. S. 2d at 749: ‘The merit of such a rule is that “it gives to the place ‘having the most interest in the problem’ paramount control over the legal issues arising out of a particular factual context” and thereby allows the forum to apply “the policy of the jurisdiction ‘most intimately concerned with the outcome of [the] particular litigation.’ ” ’ ” (Auten v. Auten, 308 N. Y. 155, 161, supra.)

In Griffith, supra, a Pennsylvania domiciliary purchased a ticket, in Philadelphia, for a flight from Philadelphia to Phoenix, Arizona, and return.

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Related

Schneider v. Nichols
158 N.W.2d 254 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1968)
Hopkins v. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation
201 So. 2d 743 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1967)
Johnson v. Johnson
216 A.2d 781 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 1966)
Mellk v. Sarahson
229 A.2d 625 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1967)
McSwain v. McSwain
215 A.2d 677 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1966)
Griffith v. United Air Lines, Inc.
203 A.2d 796 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1964)
Wilcox v. Wilcox
133 N.W.2d 408 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1965)
Clark v. Clark
222 A.2d 205 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 1966)
Kuchinic v. McCrory
222 A.2d 897 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1966)
Bednarowicz v. Vetrone
162 A.2d 687 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1960)
Mike v. Lian
185 A. 775 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1936)
Auten v. Auten
124 N.E.2d 99 (New York Court of Appeals, 1954)
Babcock v. Jackson
191 N.E.2d 279 (New York Court of Appeals, 1963)
Elston v. Industrial Lift Truck Co.
216 A.2d 318 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1966)

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Bluebook (online)
47 Pa. D. & C.2d 176, 1969 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 250, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cipolla-v-shaposka-pactcompldelawa-1969.