DocketNumber: S18G0078
Citation Numbers: 823 S.E.2d 791, 305 Ga. 107
Judges: Benham
Filed Date: 2/4/2019
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/29/2022
**107We granted certiorari in this case to resolve whether the trial court properly applied OCGA § 9-10-31.1, Georgia's forum non conveniens statute, to dismiss a lawsuit filed in Georgia by residents of Michigan against a Georgia corporation in favor of it being filed in the foreign country where the underlying event occurred. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that OCGA § 9-10-31.1 is inapplicable to the case at bar.
The facts relevant to this appeal are undisputed. While vacationing in the Dominican Republic in May 2014, Appellant Francis La Fontaine was injured in a fall from a collapsed zip-line at a course operated by Cumayasa Sky Adventures (CSA). She and her husband, Appellant Roberto Melendez, who are Michigan residents, filed a tort action in Douglas County State Court against Appellee Signature Research, Inc. Appellee is a Georgia corporation that inspected and certified the zip-line course operated by CSA. Appellee filed a motion to dismiss based on forum non conveniens saying it would submit to **108jurisdiction in the Dominican Republic and it would agree to extend the applicable statute of limitations period. Pursuant to OCGA § 9-10-31.1, the trial court granted Appellee's motion because the balance of private and public factors weighed in favor of adjudicating this matter in the Dominican Republic.
Appellants appealed the trial court's decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals on four grounds. See La Fontaine v. Signature Research, Inc. ,
*793argument that it was error to dismiss the case in favor of a foreign tribunal under the plain language of OCGA § 9-10-31.1. La Fontaine ,
Determining whether OCGA § 9-10-31.1 is applicable to this case is a matter of statutory construction which is a question of law subject to de novo review. See Fulton County Bd. of Ed. v. Thomas ,
OCGA § 9-10-31.1 provides in relevant part:
(a) If a court of this state ... finds that in the interest of justice and for the convenience of the parties and witnesses a claim or action would be more properly heard in a forum **109outside this state ... the court shall decline to adjudicate the matter under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. As to a claim or action that would be more properly heard in a forum outside this state , the court shall dismiss the claim or action. ...
(b) A court may not dismiss a claim under this Code section until the defendant files with the court or with the clerk of the court a written stipulation that, with respect to a new action on the claim commenced by the plaintiff, all the defendants waive the right to assert a statute of limitations defense in all other states of the United States in which the claim was not barred by limitations at the time the claim was filed in this state as necessary to effect a tolling of the limitations periods in those states beginning on the date the claim was filed in this state and ending on the date the claim is dismissed.
(Emphasis added.)
OCGA § 9-10-31.1 was adopted in derogation of the common law
Considering the language of OCGA § 9-10-31.1 as a whole and giving it its plain and ordinary meaning, dismissing a claim via statutory forum non conveniens when the alternative forum is a foreign country is not an action the trial court may take. OCGA § 9-10-31.1 (a) provides discretionary factors to help trial courts determine whether to grant a motion to dismiss an action or to transfer venue under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. Based on those factors, if a claim or action would be more properly heard in "a forum outside this state," the trial court shall dismiss the claim or action. OCGA § 9-10-31.1 (a). Critically for this case, OCGA § 9-10-31.1 (b) provides **110that a court *794may not dismiss a claim via forum non conveniens until the defendant files a written stipulation that all defendants waive the right to assert a statute of limitations defense "in all other states of the United States in which the claim was not barred." (Emphasis added.)
This requirement in OCGA § 9-10-31.1 (b) shows that a "forum outside this state" in subsection (a) can only be referring to forums in sister states. If the legislature had not included subsection (b), then the "forum outside this state" language in subsection (a) might allow trial courts to dismiss cases in favor of forums in foreign countries. However, courts must ascertain the meaning of a statutory provision from the statute as a whole. See Lyman ,
In sum, the courts cannot construe OCGA § 9-10-31.1 to force an outcome that the legislature did not authorize. Strictly construed, OCGA § 9-10-31.1 does not provide for dismissals of actions unless the claim should be moved to one of the other 49 states. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals affirming the dismissal of Appellants' action pursuant to OCGA § 9-10-31.1 is reversed. We do not address whether the action may be transferred pursuant to OCGA § 50-2-21, Sigala ,
Judgment reversed.
All the Justices concur, except Peterson and Warren, JJ., who concur specially.
Peterson, Justice, concurring specially.
**111I am uncertain that the majority's reading of the statute is the most reasonable construction, but it is certainly - at least - not unreasonable. And for me, that is enough, given that the constitutional concerns acknowledged - but not present - in Sigala may well be present here. See AT&T Corp. v. Sigala,
I am authorized to state that Justice Warren joins in this concurrence.
The Court of Appeals declined to review Appellants' first argument that OCGA § 9-10-31.1 unconstitutionally invades a plaintiff's right of access to the courts because the trial court did not rule on it. La Fontaine ,
Overruled on other grounds by Wang v. Liu ,
At common law, Georgia courts had no inherent authority to dismiss cases based on forum non conveniens when jurisdiction was otherwise granted by the Georgia Constitution or by statute. See Wegman v. Wegman ,
In reaching this result, we need to overrule Hewett v. Raytheon Aircraft Co. ,