## Facts

- Rudolph S. Victor, a California resident, was seriously injured in a two-car collision on July 3, 1955, on a highway in Baja California, Mexico.
- Victor was a passenger in a Chevrolet driven southbound by Edward Thornton.
- A Mercury driven northbound by John C. Sperry, with permission of the owner John M. Sperry, collided with Thornton’s Chevrolet.
- The trial court found the accident resulted from the negligence (or its Mexican-law equivalent) of both drivers.
- The trial court applied Mexican substantive tort law, including statutory limitations on recoverable personal-injury damages.
- The trial court found Mexican law did not distinguish between “guests” and “passengers” and imposed no guest-based limits on recovery against a negligent driver.
- The trial court declined to apply a Mexican rule that would impose liability without fault on the non-driving owner (John M. Sperry), citing California public policy.
- Victor suffered spinal cord injury causing permanent total disability of the left upper extremity and permanent partial disability of the left lower extremity, impairing his ability to work in physically demanding jobs.

## Issues

1. Whether a California court must apply Mexican substantive law, including statutory limits on personal-injury damages, for a tort occurring in Mexico involving California residents.
2. Whether a California court should apply Mexican law imposing no-fault liability on the non-driving vehicle owner, or refuse enforcement on California public-policy grounds.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed.
- Mexican substantive law governed liability and the measure and limitations of damages because the tort occurred in Mexico.
- The trial court properly applied Mexican statutory limits on personal-injury damages.
- The trial court properly refused to impose Mexican no-fault liability on the non-driving owner as contrary to California public policy, while applying the remainder of Mexican tort law.

## Legal Principles

- Under lex loci delicti, the substantive rights and liabilities in tort are governed by the law of the place where the injury occurred, including the measure and statutory limits of damages.
- A forum may decline to apply a foreign substantive rule that is repugnant to the forum’s fundamental public policy, even if other aspects of foreign law apply.
- When foreign tort law governs, differences between the forum’s guest-passenger rules and the foreign jurisdiction’s treatment of vehicle occupants are controlled by the foreign law.

## Conclusion

For an accident occurring in Mexico, the governing substantive law in a California tort action included Mexican damage limitations despite the parties’ California residency, but California could refuse to enforce a Mexican no-fault owner-liability rule that conflicted with California public policy.


Victor v. Sperry, 163 Cal. App. 2d 518, 329 P.2d 728 (Cal. Ct. App. 1958)