Nierman v. Hyatt Corp.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
441 Mass. 693, 808 N.E.2d 290 (2004)
- Written by Mary Phelan D'Isa, JD
Facts
Mr. and Mrs. Nierman (plaintiffs), residents of Massachusetts, sued Hyatt Corporation (defendant), a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Illinois, in a Massachusetts state court. Mr. Nierman was injured at a Texas Hyatt hotel and sought to recover damages resulting from a hotel employee’s alleged negligence. The Niermans booked their Texas Hyatt hotel stay with their Massachusetts travel agent. Hyatt manages a hotel in Massachusetts and regularly solicits business in Massachusetts through its reservation system. The Nierman’s suit was timely under Massachusetts’s three-year limitations period, but it would be barred under Texas’s two-year limitations period. The parties agreed that Texas negligence law would apply to the Nierman’s substantive tort-law claim, but they disagreed over which state’s limitations period should apply. The trial court granted Hyatt’s motion for summary judgment because it held that the shorter Texas limitations period applied. The appellate court reversed and held that the longer Massachusetts limitations period applied.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Greaney, J.)
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