Court Opinion

ID: 9569697
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:16:33.346742+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:03:46.762136
License: Public Domain

TURSI, Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
Colorado has adopted “the most significant relationship” rule in choice of law situations. The first determination that must be made is where the most significant relationships do lie. “Once the state having the most significant relationship is identified, the law of that state is then applied to resolve the particular issue.” Wood Bros. Homes, Inc. v. Walker Adjustment Bureau, 198 Colo. 444, 601 P.2d 1369 (1979).
Neither the majority nor the trial court made a first determination of the forum of the most significant relationships; therefore, the reliance on the borrowing statute, § 13-80-118, C.R.S.1973, and Restatement (Second) of Conflicts of Law § 142(1) is misplaced. See generally Leñar, The Torts Provisions of the Restatement (Second), 72 Colum.L.Rev. 267 (1972). Before the statute of limitation of a foreign jurisdiction is to be borrowed, there must be a determination of where the action accrued. Therefore, if the plaintiff’s claim accrued in Colorado no borrowing is necessary and Colorado law applies. If there is a determination that the claim accrued in California, then the borrowing statute, does apply. See Trans America Corp. v. Merrion, 127 Colo. 100, 255 P.2d 391 (1953); Williams v. Illinois Central R.R., 360 Mo. 501, 229 S.W.2d 1 (1950). The function of a statute borrowing another jurisdiction’s limitations of action is to avoid the anomalous situation in which the remedy is created by the law of one jurisdiction but cut off by the law of another. See Folda Real Estate Co. v. Jacobsen, 75 Colo. 16, 223 P. 748 (1924):
Plaintiff, a Colorado resident at the time, purchased a ticket in Colorado from United Airlines, a Delaware corporation, doing business in Colorado. The airplane provided was a McDonnell-Douglas product. McDonnell-Douglas is a Maryland corporation doing business in Colorado. United Airlines is a common carrier and its duty to plaintiff arose in Colorado. See Metropolitan Gas Repair Service, Inc. v. Kulik, Colo., 621 P.2d 313 (1980). Since the^duty arose in Colorado, breach of that duty, if any, is best measured by Colorado law. The sole significant relationship between this action and California is the fortuitous occurrence of the accident within its borders while plaintiff was in transit to Hawaii. First National Bank v. Rostek, 182 Colo. 437, 514 P.2d 314 (1973).
I would reverse and remand to the trial court to first make a determination of where the most significant relationships lie as a matter of law and then to determine the applicability of the borrowing statute.