Schwartz v. Consolidated Freightways Corp. of Del.

221 N.W.2d 665, 300 Minn. 487, 1974 Minn. LEXIS 1368
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedAugust 2, 1974
Docket44158, 44281, 44509 and 44525
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 221 N.W.2d 665 (Schwartz v. Consolidated Freightways Corp. of Del.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schwartz v. Consolidated Freightways Corp. of Del., 221 N.W.2d 665, 300 Minn. 487, 1974 Minn. LEXIS 1368 (Mich. 1974).

Opinions

Yetka, Justice.

Plaintiff brought an action to recover for personal injuries sustained in a three-truck accident in the State of Indiana allegedly due to the negligence of the defendants, Consolidated Freightways Corporation of Delaware and Spector Freight System, Inc. Trial before a jury was commenced in Hennepin County District Court on November 20, 1972. Prior to submission of the case to the jury, the court ruled, as a matter of law, that the Indiana rule of contributory negligence would apply rather than the Minnesota comparative negligence provision, Minn. St. 604.01. However, at plaintiff’s request the case was submitted to the jury in the form of special interrogatories requiring percentage apportionment of negligence attributed to each party. The jury returned a verdict finding defendants 90 percent negligent and plaintiff 10 percent negligent. In its conclusions of law, dated December 4, 1972, the court denied recovery to plaintiff based on the aforesaid ruling that the Indiana law of contributory negligence applied to this case. Plaintiff appeals from the judgment. Consolidated Freightways and Spector Freight appeal from an order of the district court denying their motions to amend or set aside certain answers to special interrogatories. [489]*489The same order dismissed without prejudice motions of the defendants for judgment n. o. v. or a new trial in the event this court determines that comparative negligence applies.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

The case at bar arises from a collision involving three semi-tractor-trailer units which occurred on the Indiana tollway.

One vehicle involved in this collision was owned by defendant Consolidated Freightways and driven by an Indiana resident. His codriver was a resident of Ohio. The unit was garaged and maintained in Ohio, but the tractor was licensed in Delaware. Neither the tractor nor the trailer was licensed to operate in Minnesota. At the time of the accident this unit was making a run from Akron, Ohio, to Chicago, Illinois, and was to return to Akron.

A second vehicle involved in the collision was leased to defendant Spector Freight System, Inc. This unit was owned and operated by an Ohio resident and maintained and garaged in Ohio. At the time of the accident, this vehicle was delivering a shipment from Cleveland, Ohio, to Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Both Consolidated and Spector are foreign corporations to the State of Minnesota. However, both operate in interstate commerce and are licensed to do business in Minnesota.

The third vehicle involved in the collision was owned by Northern Cooperative, Inc., of Wadena, Minnesota, and driven by plaintiff. Plaintiff and his codriver had left Wadena to deliver commodities to Toledo and Columbus, Ohio. Thereafter they had picked up a load in Barberton, Ohio, and were en route back to Wadena when the collision took place. Plaintiff is a lifelong resident of Minnesota and currently resides in Wadena. His codriver is also a Minnesota resident. The semi unit belonging to plaintiff’s employer is licensed, maintained, garaged, and registered in Minnesota.

The collision in question occurred at approximately 5:05 a. m., November 20,1964, in the westbound side of the Indiana tollway, near the city of Elkhart, Indiana.

[490]*490The Consolidated vehicle had stopped behind a line of traffic in the right-hand lane due to a stoppage of some sort, resulting from causes which do not appear on the record. The Consolidated driver testified that his warning lights and four-way flashers were in operation at that time. The evidence as to whether this driver had set out flares or fuses is disputed.

The weather conditions at the time of the accident were disputed.

The Sgpector vehicle then approached the stopped Consolidated unit from the rear and came to a stop directly behind said vehicle.

Plaintiff had been following the same route and traveling in the same lane as defendants’ trucks. As he approached them from the rear at a speed of 45 to 50 miles per hour, plaintiff began to pull out into the left-hand lane to pass. He struck the rear of the Spector vehicle, driving it into the rear of the Consolidated unit.

Plaintiff was severely injured and received initial medical treatment at a hospital in Elkhart, Indiana. He was then transferred to a hospital in Wadena. Plaintiff has also spent time in a Fargo, North Dakota, hospital in order to receive medical treatment for his injuries.

The issues on this appeal are:

1. Does the Indiana law of contributory negligence or the Minnesota comparative negligence provision apply to the case at bar ?

2. Does the evidence support the verdict?

Plaintiff places principal reliance on this court’s decision in Milkovich v. Saari, 295 Minn. 155, 203 N. W. 2d 408 (1973). He urges that the considerations set forth in that opinion are applicable to the case at bar, both in terms of advancement of the forum’s legitimate governmental interest and application of the better rule of law.

Defendants take the view that the facts relevant to this choice-of-law question mandate application of Indiana law in this case. They allege that the contacts with Minnesota are less signifi[491]*491cant than the contacts with Indiana. They further contend that a “better law” analysis is not applicable to comparative versus contributory negligence, and in any case, such analysis is subservient to the overriding interests of Indiana. Defendants also take the view that there must be a “consistent application of one law” and that plaintiff was forum shopping.

In Milkovich v. Saari, supra, this court discussed in detail the recent changes in the choice-of-law rules of this and other jurisdictions. With reference to tort cases it was pointed out that the traditional rule of lex loci delecti has been replaced by the more rational choice-of-law methodology first enunciated by Professor Robert Leflar in his article entitled Choice-Influencing Considerations in Conflicts Law, 41 N. Y. U. L. Rev. 267, 279. Adoption of this methodology by this court in Milkovich has in effect replaced the traditional ch'oice-of-law rules with a flexible approach which takes into account policy as well as factual considerations in arriving at a choice of law in a given situation.

As pointed out in Milkovich, only the last two items of Professor Leflar’s five-point methodology are relevant to tort cases. These two considerations are: (1) Advancement of the forum’s governmental interests and (2) application of the better rule of law.

Advancement of the forum’s governmental interests contemplates application both in terms of factual contacts with the forum and ‘in terms of the state’s policy considerations relevant to its choice of law.

In Milkovich the only facts linking the forum to the accident were that the accident occurred in this state and that the plaintiff received medical care in this state. Yet, these facts, in concert with policy considerations, were held to create governmental interests on the part of the forum sufficient to support application of Minnesota law, even though the parties were from Ontario and the automobile involved in the accident was, in all respects, linked exclusively to Ontario.

The factual contacts creating a Minnesota interest in the [492]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hernandez v. Ecolab, Inc.
D. Minnesota, 2023
Rothluebbers v. Obee
2003 SD 95 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2003)
York-Norderhaug v. American Airlines, Inc.
125 F. Supp. 2d 357 (E.D. Arkansas, 2000)
In Re Air Disaster at Little Rock, June 1, 1999
125 F. Supp. 2d 357 (E.D. Arkansas, 2000)
Richie v. Paramount Pictures Corp.
532 N.W.2d 235 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1995)
Nesladek v. Ford Motor Co.
876 F. Supp. 1061 (D. Minnesota, 1994)
Chambers v. Dakotah Charter, Inc.
488 N.W.2d 63 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1992)
Carlock v. Pillsbury Co.
719 F. Supp. 791 (D. Minnesota, 1989)
Marriage of Hodges v. Hodges
415 N.W.2d 62 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1987)
Cargill, Inc. v. Products Engineering Co.
627 F. Supp. 1492 (D. Minnesota, 1986)
DeRemer v. Pacific Intermountain Express Co.
353 N.W.2d 694 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1984)
Bigelow v. Halloran
313 N.W.2d 10 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1981)
Rush v. Savchuk
444 U.S. 320 (Supreme Court, 1980)
Hague v. Allstate Insurance Co.
289 N.W.2d 43 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1979)
Hime v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.
284 N.W.2d 829 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1979)
Wasche v. Wasche
268 N.W.2d 721 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1978)
Wallis v. Mrs. Smith's Pie Co.
550 S.W.2d 453 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1977)
Savchuk v. Rush
245 N.W.2d 624 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
221 N.W.2d 665, 300 Minn. 487, 1974 Minn. LEXIS 1368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schwartz-v-consolidated-freightways-corp-of-del-minn-1974.