41 A.D.2d 834 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1973
Appeal by defendant U-Haul Co. (1) from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County, dated November 1, 1971, which denied its motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, and (2) as limited by its brief, from so much of a further order of said court, dated March 7, 1972, as, upon a rehearing on new facts, adhered to the original determination. Order dated March 7, 1972 reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, and motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint as to defendant U-Haul Co. granted. Appeal from order dated November 1, 1971 dismissed as academic. That order was superseded by the order dated March 7, 1972. Appellant is awarded one bill of $20 costs and disbursements to cover the appeal from both orders. This appeal presents a conflict-of-law question. The complaint pleads a wrongful death action based on New York law, which imputes the negligence of the driver of a motor vehicle to the owner (Vehicle and Traffic Law, § 388). The owner of the vehicle involved .in this case, defendant U-Haul Co., asserts that the law of Pennsylvania, the site of the accident, is applicable. Pennsylvania adheres to the common-law rule that the owner is not responsible for the negligence of a permitted driver unless the latter is acting as the owner’s agent or employee within the course of his employment (see Double v. Myers, 305 Pa. 266; Henry v. Beelc, 154 Pa. Super. Ct. 585). The material facts are as follows: Defendant May, a resident of New York, leased a motor vehicle in New York from defendant U-Haul Co. The vehicle was registered in the District of Columbia. U-Haul Co. does business in New York and in virtually every other State. The lease was for a one-way trip from New York to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The decedent, a passenger, was being transported by defendant May to Alabama, where the decedent resided. The accident occurred during the trip on March 12, 1970, in Bethel, Pennsylvania, when May lost control of the vehicle, causing it to leave the highway and causing the decedent to sustain serious injuries which resulted in her death six days later. The decedent died intestate and letters of administration were