SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
A-4793-96T5
DONNA SAFER and ROBERT SAFER,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
ESTATE OF GEORGE T. PACK, HELEN W. PACK,
GEORGE T. PACK, JR., CHRISTOPHER CHARLES
PACK, MALCOLM JONATHAN PACK, TACY DOROTHEA
PACK, and CLYTIE HELEN PACK,
Defendants-Respondents.
___________________________________
Argued: March 4, 1998 - Decided: September 1, 1998
Before Judges King, Kestin and Cuff.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey,
Law Division, Civil Part, Bergen County.
Jeffrey A. Donner argued the cause for appellants
(Shain, Schaffer & Rafanello, attorneys;
Mr. Donner, of counsel and, with Gary L. Maher,
on the brief).
Peter L. Korn argued the cause for respondents
(McDonough, Korn, Eichhorn & Boyle, attorneys;
Mr. Korn, of counsel; AnnMarie West, on the brief).
The opinion of the court was delivered by
KESTIN, J.A.D.
In a prior opinion, Safer v. Estate of Pack(I),
291 N.J.
Super. 619 (App. Div.), certif. denied,
146 N.J. 568 (1996), we
reversed the trial court's dismissal of the complaint, holding that
plaintiffs had pleaded a viable cause of action and had made an
adequate prima facie showing to survive defendants' motion for
summary judgment. In remanding, we observed that a choice of law
question might exist. That issue was subsequently raised in the
trial court which determined that "this action is . . . governed by
New York substantive law; and . . . is time-barred by the New York
statute of limitations." The trial court accordingly ordered the
matter dismissed with prejudice. Plaintiff appeals. We reverse
and remand for further proceedings.
The factual background of the matter was set out in detail in
our prior opinion and we will not rehearse it here. The only
question before us in this appeal is whether New Jersey's flexible
governmental interest analysis approach to choice of law questions
requires the application of New York law which, because it lacks a
discovery rule applying to cases of this type, would bar the action
under its statute of limitations; or New Jersey law which, by
application of our discovery rule, see Lopez v. Swyer,
62 N.J. 267
(1973), tolls the running of our statute of limitations. The
choice of law analysis bears as well on differences in the
substantive law that will govern, for as far as we are able to
determine, New York does not apply as broad a rule of physician
duty to non-patient family members as New Jersey does. Compare our
analysis of New Jersey law in Safer v. Estate of Pack(I), supra,
291 N.J. Super. at 625-27, with, e.g., Ellis v. Peter,
627 N.Y.S.2d 707 (App. Div.), appeal dismissed,
659 N.E.2d 773 (1995); Conboy v.
Mogeloff,
567 N.Y.S.2d 960 (App. Div.), appeal denied,
582 N.E.2d 603 (1991); Sorgente v. Richmond Memorial Hosp.,
539 N.Y.S.2d 269
(Sup. Ct. 1989).
Twenty years ago, in Schum v. Bailey,
578 F.2d 493 (3d Cir.
1978), the United States Court of Appeals, in a diversity case with
similar jurisdictional facts, accorded due regard to New Jersey's
"interest-based approach" to choice of law questions, id. at 495,
adopted in Heavner v. Uniroyal, Inc.,
63 N.J. 130 (1973),
influenced by principles enunciated in Restatement (Second) of
Conflict of Laws §§ 145, 146 (1971) and other authorities, and held
that New Jersey law applied. In Schum, as here, all the medical
services that were rendered were performed in New York by a
physician who practiced there. As here, the physician was also
licensed to practice in New Jersey and had hospital privileges in
this State. One point of difference: although the plaintiff in
Schum was a domiciliary of New Jersey at the time the alleged tort
was committed and when the action was commenced, the defendant was
a resident of New York; here, both plaintiff Donna Safer and
defendant George Pack were residents of New Jersey when the alleged
genetic tort was committed, and the action was commenced....albeit
years later....against Dr. Pack's domestic estate. See Pfau v. Trent
Aluminum Co.,
55 N.J. 511, 524-25 (1970); Mueller v. Parke Davis,
252 N.J. Super. 347 (App. Div. 1991). Another point of difference
may be found in the nature of the alleged torts in Schum and in
this case, i.e., the difference between a medical malpractice case
addressing medical services rendered elsewhere and one which
implicates failure to warn/increased risk of harm considerations to
a non-patient which may be seen to be a breach of duty in the
jurisdiction in which the plaintiff resided at the time.
We adopt and apply the Schum analysis and result as applicable
to this case because we view the Third Circuit's application of New
Jersey's then relatively new flexible governmental interest
analysis approach to have been correct at the time, and because
there have been no essential modifications of that method in the
intervening years, except for decisional growth. See, e.g., Gantes
v. Kason Corp.,
145 N.J. 478, 485-494 (1996); reversing
276 N.J.
Super. 586 (App. Div. 1994); Veazey v. Doremus,
103 N.J. 244, 248
(1986); Grossman v. Club Med Sales, Inc.,
273 N.J. Super. 42, 48-49
(App. Div. 1994). See also Polarome Mfg. Co., Inc. v. Commerce &
Ind. Ins. Co.,
310 N.J. Super. 168, 172-73 (App. Div.), certif.
denied, ___ N.J. ___ (1998), as a recent illustration of the
application of flexible governmental interest analysis to choice of
law questions in contract actions.
Given the similarities between this case and Schum, as well as
the differences which can only be seen to add weight to plaintiffs'
side of the governmental interest analysis balance, we hold that
New Jersey law governs. Insofar as the discovery rule can be seen
to apply based upon the record developed to date, no statute of
limitations bar appears presently to preclude plaintiffs' claims.
The trial court's order of March 21, 1997, dismissing the
complaint with prejudice is reversed and the matter is remanded for
further proceedings.