Court Opinion

ID: 9489235
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:09:40.286785+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:24.595884
License: Public Domain

RYAN, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the view that the judgment entered by the district court should be affirmed because, according to Ohio’s choice of law rules, Louisiana has the most significant relationship to the insurance contracts entered into between Crown Equipment Corporation and International Insurance Company. I reach that conclusion, however, by a somewhat different analytical route than is taken by my colleagues.
Sections 6 and 188 of the Restatement (Second) Conflict of Laws, which have been adopted by the Ohio Supreme Court, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. v. Ferrin, 21 Ohio St.3d 43, 487 N.E.2d 568 (1986), provide a broad framework for resolving choice of law issues in the context of a contract dispute. As District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel, in his excellent opinion, carefully explained, there are factors in sections 6 and 188 of the Restatement that point toward Ohio as having the most significant relationship to these insurance contracts, others that point toward Louisiana, and still others that point in neither direction. For me, the determinative indicator that Louisiana has the most significant relationship with these insurance agreements is that the state court’s award of $2.9 million in interest to Hopper, the tort victim, was made pursuant to La.Rev.Stat. Ann. *609§ 13:4203. This statute “creates a rule of public policy requiring liability insurers to assume responsibility for legal interest on the applicable policy limits from date of judicial demand until paid.” Remedies v. Lopez, 560 So.2d 118, 119 (La.Ct.App.1990). Presumably, the public policy involved here is to encourage prompt settlement of meritorious tort actions. Viewed in this manner, it becomes clear that Louisiana has a significant interest in having its rule applied. Stated differently, the interest award is one which was made pursuant to a Louisiana law that simultaneously prescribes the allocation of the burden of that interest. Thus, unlike most state laws concerning interest on judgments, Louisiana law addresses explicitly and significantly the liability of the insurers here. In doing so, of course, the Louisiana law has “the most significant relationship” to the insurance contracts between the two liability carriers and the insured tortfeasor.
For these reasons, I concur in the judgment of affirmance.