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Dym v. Gordon
New York Court of Appeals
16 N.Y.2d 120, 262 N.Y.S.2d 463, 209 N.E.2d 792 (1965)
Facts
Two New York residents met while attending summer school at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. One of the residents, the driver (defendant), offered to give the other resident, the passenger (plaintiff), a ride to a nearby town in Colorado. En route, the car carrying the driver and passenger, which was registered and insured in New York, collided with another car and injured the passenger. The passenger sued the driver in state court in New York. Under New York law, a negligent driver is liable to the driver’s injured passenger under the usual negligence rule of ordinary care. Under the Colorado guest statute, however, an injured passenger must prove that the driver’s conduct constituted willful and wanton disregard. New York had abandoned the rule of lex loci delicti (the law of the place of the wrong) in torts cases having contacts in more than one jurisdiction. The trial court applied New York law. The appellate court reversed and held that Colorado law applied. The passenger appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Burke, J.)
Dissent (Fuld, J.)
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