Reich v. Purcell
Supreme Court of California
442 P.2d 727 (1967)
A car driven by Joseph Purcell (defendant), a California resident, collided in Missouri with a car driven by Lee Reich's (plaintiff) wife, killing her and their son and seriously injuring another son; the Reich family was Ohio residents at the time, though they were considering moving to California. Reich and his surviving son later moved to California, while the decedents' estates were administered in Ohio. Reich sued Purcell for wrongful death in California, and the parties stipulated to a judgment amount depending on which state's law applied: Missouri capped wrongful-death recovery at $25,000, while California and Ohio had no such cap. The trial court applied Missouri's cap because the accident happened there, and Reich appealed.
Whether the forum state is disinterested in a controversy when, at the time the claim accrued, the plaintiff was not domiciled in the forum state and the injury occurred in a different state.