Court Opinion

ID: 9667822
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:55:42.603348+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:40.689375
License: Public Domain

Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting: I have no disagreement with applying Tennesseé law to a dispute between a Tennessee resident and a Tennessee insurer over the coverage of an insurance policy issued in Tennessee, assuming Arkansas has jurisdiction to decide the issue. But with respect to the liability of Rochelle Smith to Donna Schlemmer, the majority opinion concludes that Tennessee law applies and with that I disagree. I burn no candles for the guest statute, but it was the law of this state when the accident occurred and it governs any claim of Donna Schlemmer against Rochelle Smith, or any claim dependent thereon. When a resident of another state comes to Arkansas, enters an Arkansas based vehicle, owned and operated by an Arkansas resident, for a trip wholly local in character and never intended to be otherwise, I have no doubt but that Arkansas law governs issues of tort liability.