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White v. Crown Equipment Corp.4/18/2005
irst, Crown Equipment is incorporated under the laws of this state. Second, the lift truck was manufactured in Ohio. Clearly, Ohio has an important policy objective in deterring negligently manufactured products from being sold in this state. Even so, the record indicates without contradiction that once the lift truck was sold to the Kroger Company, neither the Kroger Company nor CSI ever contacted Crown to inspect, maintain, or perform planned maintenance on the braking system. Consequently, we hold that the application of Georgia substantive law is appropriate in this case.
{ } Nevertheless, choice-of-law provisions apply to determine the application of state substantive law; therefore, while a forum may apply the substantive law of another state, the forum's own procedural law will govern the case. See Howard v. Allen (1972), 30 Ohio St.2d 130, 134, 283 N.E.2d 167; Lawson v. Valve-Trol Co. (1991), 81 Ohio App.3d 1, 4, 610 N.E.2d 425 ("In choice-of-law situations, the procedural laws of the forum state, including applicable statute of limitations, are generally applied"). Accordingly, we must determine whether the application of the Georgia statute of repose is substantive law. Based on the Georgia Supreme Court ruling in Browning v. Maytag Corp. (1991), 261 Ga. 20, 21, 401 S.E.2d 725 (holding that the statute of repose is substantive law), we conclude that it is. In sum, applying Georgia substantive law to this case includes the application of the statute of repose, which subsequently bars the Whites from recovering against Crown.
{ } Finally, we turn to whether applying Georgia substantive law to the case at bar precludes the Whites' right to due process of law under the Ohio Constitution and a jury trial under both the Ohio Constitution and the United States Constitution. We note that in Love v. Whirlpool (1994), 264 Ga. 701, 449 S.E.2d 602, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the statute of repose in question was constitutional under the United States Constitution. Thus, we summarily reject the notion that the Whites' due process or jury-trial rights are circumvented by the application of Georgia law. See Phillips v. Motrim (Dec. 5, 1996), 5th Dist. No. 96-CA-1, 1996 WL 753144, at * 3 ("We are required by the United States Constitution to give full faith and credit to public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. Art. IV, Sec. 1. This court is unable to declare an Illinois statute unconstitutional").
{ } Accordingly, all four assignments of error are overruled, and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
CUPP, P.J., and ROGERS, J., concur.
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