Title: Gonzales, Administrator v. Atchison, T. & SF Rly. Co.
Citation: 189 Kan. 689, 371 P.2d 193
Docket Number: 42,738
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: May 5, 1962

189 Kan. 689 (1962)
371 P.2d 193
THOMAS GONZALES, Administrator of the Estate of Emilio Perez, Deceased, Appellant,
v.
THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND SANTA FE RAILWAY COMPANY, a Corporation, Appellee.
No. 42,738

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed May 5, 1962.
R.R. Barnes, of Wichita, argued the cause, David A. Gushurst, of LaJunta, Colorado, Payne H. Ratner, Louise Mattox, Payne H. Ratner, Jr., Cliff W. Ratner, Edmund R. Learned, James R. Barr and Frank W. Hylton, all of Wichita, were with him on the brief for the appellant.
W.E. Treadway, of Topeka, argued the cause, Charles W. Harris, of Wichita, C.J. Putt and J.B. Reeves, both of Topeka, were with him on the brief for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
SCHROEDER, J.:
This is an action for wrongful death brought by the plaintiff administrator pursuant to the Federal Employers' Liability Act (45 U.S.C., § 51, et seq.) in the district court of Sedgwick County, Kansas, as authorized by G.S. 1949, 59-1707 and 59-1708.
The plaintiff's decedent, Emilio Perez, a resident of Otero County, Colorado, while in the course of his employment by the defendant railroad met his death as a result of an automobile collision occurring near Las Animas in Bent County, Colorado.
Service of process was obtained upon the defendant's freight agent residing in Sedgwick County, Kansas. Without otherwise pleading to the petition, the defendant, The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, promptly filed its verified motion to dismiss the action under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. *691 This motion was sustained by the trial court after hearing, and appeal has been duly perfected from this order.
The questions presented are whether the doctrine of forum non conveniens is recognized in Kansas, and if so whether it is applicable to the facts in this case.
In support of the appellee's motion to dismiss under the doctrine of forum non conveniens ten specific reasons based upon facts fully stated therein were set forth. The facts alleged in the motion were supported by affidavits. The trial court found in favor of the appellee upon all of the points enumerated. Its journal entry of dismissal reads in pertinent part:
The doctrine of forum non conveniens is of ancient common law origin and has been recognized and applied in the federal courts and in the courts of most of the states. It is based upon broad considerations of convenience, justice, public policy, and due regard for the rights of citizens. Simply stated the rule is that a court may resist imposition upon its jurisdiction even when jurisdiction is authorized by the letter of a general venue statute. (Gulf Oil Corp. *692 v. Gilbert, [1947], 330 U.S. 501, 507, 91 L. Ed. 1055, 67 S. Ct. 839.)
In Plum, Appellant v. Tampax, Inc., [1960], 399 Pa. 553, 160 A.2d 549, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said:
The Illinois Supreme Court described the doctrine in A.T. and S.F. Ry. Co. v. Clark, [1957], 12 Ill. 2d 515, 147 N.E.2d 89, in the following language:
The United States Supreme Court in Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, supra, elucidated upon the doctrine in the following language:
"II.
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"III.
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The Oklahoma Supreme Court in an action under the Federal Employers' Liability Act against a foreign corporation determined that the courts of that state had the inherent power to dismiss an action under the doctrine of forum non conveniens, and having no statutory criteria to guide the court in exercising this power they adopted the view expressed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, supra. (St. Louis-San Francisco Ry. Co. v. Superior Court, [Okla. 1954], 276 P.2d 773.)
For other decisions of similar import see Walsh v. Crescent Hill Co., [Mun. C.A., D.C. 1957], 134 A.2d 653; Forcum-Dean Co. v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Co., [Tex. C.C.A. 1960], 341 S.W.2d 464; *694 and Price v. Atchison, T. &amp; S.F. Ry. Co., [1954], 42 C.2d 577, 268 P.2d 457, cert. den. 348 U.S. 839, 99 L. Ed. 661, 75 S. Ct. 44. (See also 29 Colum.L.Rev. 1, [1929], "The Doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens in Anglo-American Law;" and Lansverk v. Studebaker-Packard Corp., [1959], 54 Wn.2d 124, 338 P.2d 747  rejecting the doctrine in the state of Washington.)
The American Law Institute, Restatement of the Law Second, Conflict of Laws (Tentative Draft No. 4, April 5, 1957), formulates the rule in the following language:
"§ 117e. Forum Non Conveniens.
In the comments under the foregoing section it is said whether a suit should be entertained or dismissed under the doctrine of forum non conveniens depends largely upon the particular facts and upon the discretion of the trial court. Such exercise of discretion will be overruled on appeal only when abused.
The factors for the lower court to consider in making its determination are set forth in the comments to the foregoing section of the Restatement as follows:
The appellant contends the doctrine of forum non conveniens is not applicable in the state of Kansas for the reason that neither the constitution nor the statutes of Kansas expressly refer to the doctrine, or affirmatively authorize a district court to decline to exercise jurisdiction in a case in which the district court otherwise has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter. The appellant further contends the doctrine is inapplicable to a resident defendant.
*695 From the beginning of our history as a state (Territorial Laws 1855, ch. 96, Laws 1862, ch. 135, G.S. 1935, 77-109) the common law of England has been the basis of the law of this state, and except as modified by constitutional or statutory provisions, by judicial decisions, or by the wants and needs of the people, it has continued to remain the law of this state. (State, ex rel., v. Board of Agriculture, 158 Kan. 603, 605, 149 P.2d 604; Fergus v. Tomlinson, 126 Kan. 427, 268 Pac. 849; and In re Frye, 173 Kan. 392, 396, 246 P.2d 313.)
Apparently the only Kansas decision approaching the subject of the doctrine of forum non conveniens is State of Oklahoma, ex rel., v. H.D. Lee Co., 174 Kan. 114, 254 P.2d 291. There the defendant moved to dismiss a case in which the parties had entered into a stipulation of facts for submission upon the issues joined by the pleadings. In the opinion it was said:
Certainly the foregoing decision recognized the inherent power of the trial court to dismiss a transitory cause of action pursuant to the doctrine of forum non conveniens where facts and circumstances call for its application. We hold the doctrine is a part of the common law of the state of Kansas.
The appellant argues that the domicile of the appellee, in this instance a Kansas corporation, rather than the domicile of the appellant and the place of the accident, should be the determinative factor, and suggests that where a corporation is sued in the state of its incorporation the case cannot be dismissed, citing Lansverk v. Studebaker-Packard Corp., supra. For the divergent rules of the various states in transitory causes of action under the doctrine, where one or both parties are residents, and where both parties are nonresidents, see 48 A.L.R.2d 808; and 48 A.L.R.2d 850.
*696 The argument advanced by the appellant was considered by the Supreme Court of the United States in Koster v. Lumbermens Mutual Co., [1947], 330 U.S. 518, 91 L. Ed. 1067, 67 S. Ct. 828, where it said:
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Cases in which an action was dismissed under the doctrine of forum non conveniens against a resident corporation are Winsor v. United Air Lines, Inc. [Del. 1958], 154 A.2d 561; Vargas v. A.H. Bull Steamship Co. [1957], 44 N.J. Super. 536, 131 A.2d 39; and Gore v. United States Steel Corp. [1954], 15 N.J. 301, 104 A.2d 670. The Gore case is an exceptionally well written opinion on the doctrine.
We have heretofore determined that the courts of this state have the inherent power to dismiss a transitory cause of action under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. This is a discretionary power which should be exercised only in exceptional circumstances and when an adequate showing has been made that the interests of justice require a trial in a more convenient forum. There are no statutory criteria in this state to guide the court in the exercise of this power, and we therefore adopt the view of the Supreme Court of the United States as expressed in Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, supra. The place of corporate domicile, even though domestic as in the instant case, is a factor entitled to consideration but does not preclude dismissal of a transitory cause of action under the doctrine of forum non conveniens, which resists formalization and looks to the realities that make for doing justice. (Koster v. Lumbermens Mutual Co., supra.) We approve the American Law Institute view, as heretofore quoted from the Restatement on Conflict of Laws, to the effect that an action should not be dismissed in any event under the doctrine unless an alternative forum is available to the plaintiff.
It is now settled that the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 *697 U.S.C., § 51, et seq., by conferring concurrent jurisdiction on federal courts and state courts, does not impose a duty upon a state court to exercise jurisdiction of a cause of action arising under the act merely because the court properly has acquired jurisdiction over the defendant and the subject matter. State courts are free to adopt the doctrine of forum non conveniens and apply it to such transitory causes of action in accordance with state law. (Southern R. Co. v. Mayfield [1950], 340 U.S. 1, 95 L. Ed. 3, 71 S. Ct. 1; and see Johnson v. Chicago, Burlington &amp; Quincy Railroad Co. [1954], 243 Minn. 58, 66 N.W.2d 763; Maynard v. Chicago &amp; North Western Railway Co. [1956], 247 Minn. 228, 77 N.W.2d 183; and A.T. and S.F. Ry. Co. v. Clark, supra.)
In conclusion we hold the trial court properly applied the suggested criteria of the United States Supreme Court in Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, supra. It specifically found that a proper case was presented for application of the doctrine of forum non conveniens  that a more convenient forum was afforded in the state of Colorado. Under all of the facts and circumstances presented by the record herein the trial court did not abuse the exercise of its power of discretion in dismissing the action without prejudice.
The judgment is affirmed.