Opinion ID: 454827
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Following the Erie Trail

Text: 5 Under the Erie doctrine, a federal court sitting in diversity must apply the substantive law of the forum state and federal procedural law. Hanna v. Plumer, 380 U.S. 460, 85 S.Ct. 1136, 14 L.Ed.2d 8 (1965); Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 85 L.Ed. 1188 (1938). State substantive law includes a state's conflict of laws rules. Klaxon v. Stentor Electric Co., 313 U.S. 487, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477 (1941). The Texas conflict of laws rules mandate the application of New York substantive law and Texas procedural law to this case, since New York is the state of the most significant contacts and defendants are residents of Texas. See Gutierrez v. Collins, 583 S.W.2d 312 (Tex.1979). Further, the Texas statute governing wrongful death in a foreign state, article 4678, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. (Vernon Supp.1941-1985) provides that all matters pertaining to procedures shall be governed by the laws of this state, and the court shall apply such rules of substantive law as are appropriate under the facts of the case. The validity of Mrs. Rosenberg's claim is thus dependent on the substantive law of New York governing wrongful death and the procedural laws of Texas.
6 The New York Wrongful Death Act is set out in Sec. 5-4.1 of the New York Estate Powers and Trust Law (McKinney, 1970): 7 The personal representative, duly appointed in this state or any other jurisdiction, of a decedent who is survived by distributees may maintain an action to recover damages for a wrongful act, neglect or default which caused the decedent's death against a person who would have been liable to the decedent by reason of such wrongful conduct if death had not ensued. Such an action must be commenced within two years after the decedent's death. When the distributees do not participate in the administration of the decedent's estate under a will appointing an executor who refused to bring such action, the distributees are entitled to have an administrator appointed to prosecute the action for their benefit. (emphasis added). 8 The New York statute is patterned after the original Wrongful Death Act, Lord Campbell's Act, Stat. 9 and 10 Vict. Chap. 93, 1846, which allows recovery: 9 [w]hensoever the death of a person shall be caused by wrongful act, neglect, or default, and the act, neglect, or default is such as would, (if death had not ensued) have entitled the party injured to maintain an action and recover damages.... (emphasis added). 10 New York does not use the conditioning language is such as. Instead, New York defines the right to bring the action in terms of the liability of the tortfeasor-defendant. Thus, New York allows the decedent's representative a cause of action only in cases where the defendant would have been liable to the decedent. See generally 167 A.L.R. 894. The New York Court of Appeals has interpreted the state's wrongful death statute to mean that no action should be maintainable under it unless the decedent, at the time of his death, could have maintained an action. Kelliher v. New York Cent. and H.R.R. Co., 212 N.Y. 207, 105 N.E. 824, 825 (1914) (emphasis added). In Kelliher, the court held that the wrongful death claim brought by the decedent's personal representative was barred by the running of the statute of limitations on the decedent's underlying personal injury claim. Subsequent New York decisions have followed Kelliher in holding that the representative's ability to maintain an action depends upon a valid subsisting claim in the decedent's favor at the time of his death. See Myers v. City of Plattsburgh, 214 N.Y.S.2d 773, 13 A.D.2d 866 (1961) (not maintainable when decedent's personal injury action time-barred at death); Prink v. Rockefeller Center, Inc., 48 N.Y.2d 309, 422 N.Y.S.2d 911, 398 N.E.2d 517 (1979) (not maintainable when decedent's death caused by suicide); Johnson v. Stromberg-Carlson Telephone Mfg. Co., 276 N.Y. 621, 12 N.E.2d 607 (1937), cert. denied, 305 U.S. 645, 59 S.Ct. 150, 83 L.Ed. 416 (1938) (not maintainable when underlying personal injury claim time-barred at death); Emery v. Rochester Telephone Corp., 271 N.Y. 306, 3 N.E.2d 434 (1936) (not maintainable when no direct interference with decedent's person). These decisions clearly establish that New York views the liability of a defendant to a decedent at the time of his death as a statutory condition precedent to, and an essential element of, any representative's wrongful death claim. Indeed, New York holds that if any essential element of the cause of action is lacking--such as the right of the injured party to bring suit--there is a failure to state a claim for wrongful death. Emery, 3 N.E.2d at 434, 435-36. 11 Despite the long held and clearly established precedents of New York, on this appeal Mrs. Rosenberg maintains that the statute of limitations governing her husband's personal injury claim is not a substantive part of her cause of action for wrongful death. She argues that the bar of the statute of limitations is merely procedural. Accordingly, she contends that even though her remedy has been barred in the courts of New York, her right of action for wrongful death remains valid--provided she can find a jurisdiction which will recognize it. She contends that Texas is such a jurisdiction. However, the cases relied upon by Mrs. Rosenberg refer only to the necessity to bring a wrongful death action within two years of the decedent's death, as explicitly required by the New York Wrongful Death Act. None of her authorities address New York's statutory requirement that an action may be maintained only when the defendant would have been liable to the decedent if death had not ensued. Neither do they abrogate or overrule the clear New York authority that the lack of a valid claim at the time of the decedent's death acts as a bar to the right of the personal representative to bring a wrongful death action. 6 Since Celotex was not liable to Stanley Rosenberg at the time of his death under New York law, it follows that Barbara Rosenberg can make no claim under the New York wrongful death statute. 12 Admitting that she has no remedy in New York, Mrs. Rosenberg filed suit in Texas for her husband's wrongful death. She contends that Texas recognizes a cause of action for Mr. Rosenberg's wrongful death because she filed it within two years of his death. In effect, Mrs. Rosenberg asserts that even though New York bars her cause of action, Texas does not. She maintains that the Texas conflicts of laws rules would apply New York substantive law--where she claims she has a right to a wrongful death cause of action--and Texas procedural law. If Texas applies its own statute of limitations as procedural law she maintains her action must go forward.
13 By the terms of Article 4678 Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. (Vernon Supp.1941-1985) an action for wrongful death occurring in a foreign state may be brought in a Texas court when a right to maintain an action and recover damages is given by the statute or law of such foreign state.... 7 Thus, even though Article 4678 indicates Texas procedural law will apply to foreign based wrongful death actions, a precursor is the existence of a valid foreign cause of action. The Texas Supreme Court has interpreted the language of Article 4678 as requiring that one invoking the jurisdiction of our courts under the article must establish that he has at that time 'a right to maintain an action and recover damages' under the statute or law of the state or country where the wrongful act or neglect occurred. Francis v. Herrin Transportation Co., 432 S.W.2d 710, 712 (Tex.1968). Francis involved a case similar to the one before us. In Francis the court was required to determine whether a petitioner had, at the time suit was filed in Texas, a substantive right under Louisiana law to maintain the suit and recover damages. Texas cases subsequent to Francis have continued to recognize that a condition precedent to an action for death occurring in another state is whether the plaintiff has under Article 4678 the substantive right, at the time he brings the Texas suit, to maintain an action under the law of the state where the death or injury occurred. Culpepper v. Daniel Industries, Inc., 500 S.W.2d 958 (Tex.Civ.App.--Houston [1st Div.] 1973, ref'd n.r.e.). Thus, it is clear that a claim for wrongful death cannot be maintained in Texas under Article 4678 where, as in Mrs. Rosenberg's case, the plaintiff does not have an existing right of action under the laws of the state where the wrongful death occurred.