 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Clayton v. Burnett12/7/1999
Filed: 7 December 1999
Appeal by plaintiff from judgment entered 24 September 1998 by Judge Dennis J. Winner in Jackson County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 22 September 1999.
This case arises out of an automobile accident that occurred in Habersham County, Georgia. On 2 July 1995, Michelle Clayton Hall and defendant Chip Lee Hall were married in North Carolina. Following their wedding, they started to Atlanta to catch a plane for their honeymoon. On the way, their car collided with a tractor-trailer driven by defendant Dennis Hal Burnett. Michelle Clayton Hall died instantly. Plaintiff Mike Clayton, the father of Michelle Clayton Hall, filed this wrongful death action on behalf of her estate on 27 June 1997, alleging negligence by Chip Lee Hall, who was driving their car, and by defendant Burnett and his employers. The trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the defendants, concluding that, under Georgia law, plaintiff was the wrong party to institute a wrongful death action. Plaintiff appeals. We reverse.
At the outset, we must ascertain whether Georgia law or North Carolina law applies to the instant action. The conflict of laws provisions of this state are well-settled. Matters affecting the substantive rights of the parties are determined by the lex loci, or where the wrong occurred; matters affecting the remedial or procedural rights of the parties are determined by the lex fori, or where the claim is filed. Boudreau v. Baughman, 322 N.C. 331, 335, 368 S.E.2d 849, 853-54 (1988). Plaintiff contends that the determination of who is a proper party to sue is merely a procedural right, such that North Carolina law governs. We disagree.
The common law rule has been summarized as follows: The matter of who is the proper plaintiff in a wrongful death action brought in one jurisdiction for a death resulting from a wrong committed in another has been said to be governed by the law of the jurisdiction in which the wrong occurred, under the theory that such matter is a part of the substantive law, rather than merely a matter of procedure.
22A Am. Jur. 2d Death ยง 413 (1988). Though we have found no North Carolina case law directly addressing the propriety of the common law rule, we have found one case that has implicitly accepted it. In Evans v. Morrow, 234 N.C. 600, 68 S.E.2d 258 (1951), an automobile collided with a tractor-trailer in South Carolina, resulting in the death of the driver of the automobile. Id. at 602, 68 S.E.2d at 260. The driver of the tractor-trailer instituted a negligence action in North Carolina against the automobile driver's father, individually, under the family purpose doctrine. Id. The automobile driver's father subsequently qualified as administrator of his deceased son's estate, whereupon he filed a negligence suit against the driver of the tractor-trailer in South Carolina. Id. The driver of the tractor-trailer then sought to enjoin the father from proceeding in South Carolina, contending that North Carolina's courts acquired prior jurisdiction over him in his representative capacity when the driver of the tractor-trailer commenced the negligence action in North Carolina. In rejecting this argument, our Supreme Court made the following statement relevant to the issue before this Court today:
All matters of substantive law relating to the wrongful death action are governed by the law of South Carolina, where the fatal accident occurred. Under that law, nobody can sue to enforce a cause of action for death by wrongful act except the executor or administrator of the decedent.
Id. at 605-06, 68 S.E.2d at 262 (citations omitted). Thus, the Evans court implicitly treated the matter
Page 1 2 3 North Carolina Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|