MAIN, Justice.
Precision Gear Company, Precision Gear LLC, and General Metal Heat Treating, Inc. (hereinafter collectively referred to as "the gear manufacturers"), third-party defendants in the underlying action, were granted permission to appeal from the trial court's interlocutory order denying their motion to dismiss the third-party claims against them filed by Continental Motors, Inc. See Rule 5, Ala. R.App. P. The trial court certified the following controlling question of law:
We conclude that Alabama's two-year statute of limitations applies in this action and that Continental Motors' claims against the gear manufacturers are therefore time-barred. We reverse and remand.
On July 24, 2005, an aircraft accident occurred in Ada, Oklahoma. The accident was caused by the failure of one of two engines on the aircraft. The accident resulted in the deaths of the three persons who had been aboard the aircraft (hereinafter referred to as "the decedents"). All the litigation concerning the 2005 aircraft accident has taken place in Alabama. The decedents' personal representatives filed an action in the Mobile Circuit Court in 2007 alleging wrongful death and defective
In June 2011, Tulsair Beechcraft sued Continental Motors in the Mobile Circuit Court, seeking statutory indemnity under Oklahoma law.
Precision Gear and General Metal moved separately to dismiss Continental Motors' indemnity claims. They argued, among other things, that Continental Motors' indemnity claims are time-barred by Alabama's two-year statute of limitations for indemnity actions arising from tort claims. Continental Motors opposed the motions, arguing that Oklahoma substantive law classifies indemnity claims as quasi-contractual and, therefore, that Alabama's six-year statute of limitations for contract claims governs its indemnity claims.
The trial court determined that because an indemnity action is derived from the principal claim, an indemnity action should be governed by the law of the place where the principal claim arose. The principal claim in this case was the wrongful-death claim, and there is no dispute that the aircraft accident and the decedents' deaths occurred in Oklahoma. Relying on cases from other jurisdictions because it found no Alabama law on point, the trial court concluded that a claim for indemnity is governed by the law of the state where the underlying tort occurred. The trial court further concluded that it must apply an Alabama statute of limitations. The trial court then concluded that because Oklahoma law considers an action for indemnity
The gear manufacturers then filed a joint motion asking the trial court to certify the statute-of-limitations issue for an interlocutory appeal to this Court pursuant to Rule 5, Ala. R.App. P. After a response from Continental Motors, the trial court granted the joint motion and certified the previously quoted controlling question of law for permissive appeal. This Court granted the gear manufacturers' petition for permission to appeal.
Ex parte Liberty Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 825 So.2d 758, 762 (Ala.2002). "In conducting our de novo review of the question presented on a permissive appeal, `this Court will not expand its review ... beyond the question of law stated by the trial court. Any such expansion would usurp the responsibility entrusted to the trial court by Rule 5(a)[, Ala. R.App. P.].' BE&K, Inc. v. Baker, 875 So.2d 1185, 1189 (Ala.2003)." Regions Bank v. Kramer, 98 So.3d 510, 513 (Ala.2012). Therefore, the only issue before this Court is the issue framed in the previously quoted question of law.
In a conflict-of-laws situation, the principles that govern which state's substantive law applies to the case before us are well settled.
Lifestar Response of Alabama, Inc. v. Admiral Ins. Co., 17 So.3d 200, 213 (Ala.2009) (footnote omitted). The trial court so stated, and we agree. We also agree with the trial court's conclusion that "a claim for contribution or indemnity is governed by the law of the state where the underlying tort occurred."
Etheredge v. Genie Indus., Inc., 632 So.2d 1324, 1327 (Ala.1994) (quoting Cofer v. Ensor, 473 So.2d 984, 987 (Ala.1985)). In denying the gear manufacturers' motions to dismiss, the trial court concluded:
We agree with the trial court's conclusions to this point.
The gear manufacturers and Continental Motors agree that because the injury in this case occurred in Oklahoma, Oklahoma law governs the substantive rights of the parties. They also agree that because Alabama is the forum state, Alabama law governs the procedural matters in this litigation. The gear manufacturers and Continental Motors disagree, however, as to which statute of limitations applies — the statute applicable to torts or the statute applicable to contracts — because Alabama and Oklahoma characterize a claim for indemnity differently. Alabama law characterizes an action for noncontractual indemnity as a tort. "`The basis for indemnity is restitution, and the concept that one person is unjustly enriched at the expense of another when the other discharges liability that it should be his responsibility to pay.'" Amerada Hess Corp. v. Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp., 627 So.2d 367, 370 (Ala.1993) (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 886B cmt. c (1977)). As the trial court correctly stated, Oklahoma law characterizes an indemnity claim not as a claim sounding in tort, but in contract:
(Some citations omitted.) If an indemnity claim is characterized as contractual, then under Alabama procedural law a six-year statute of limitations would apply, and Continental Motors' indemnity claims are timely. However, if such a claim is viewed as sounding in tort, then under Alabama procedural law a two-year statute of limitations would apply, and Continental Motors' indemnity claims are time-barred. Ex parte Stonebrook Dev., L.L.C., 854 So.2d 584, 591 (Ala.2003) (stating that the two-year statute of limitations in § 6-2-38(l), Ala.Code 1975, applies to noncontractual indemnity claims). The dispositive issue before this Court, then, is which state's law is to be applied in characterizing the claim.
The trial court applied Oklahoma substantive law and concluded that the applicable Alabama statute of limitations would be the six-year statute of limitations for contracts. It is here that we disagree with the trial court's analysis.
The gear manufacturers argue that the law of the forum determines the characterization of the claim for statute-of-limitations purposes. They cite several federal cases in which the federal court, sitting in a diversity case, applied conflict-of-laws principles to decide which state's statute of limitations applied to a particular claim. In all of these jurisdictions, the court applied the law of the forum to characterize the nature of the claim. In O'Neal v. Kennamer, 958 F.2d 1044, 1047 (11th Cir. 1992), a case litigated in Alabama, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit applied a conflict-of-laws analysis to determine whether a claim would be characterized as a contract or a tort claim, and concluded that "the decision of what kind of case is involved is governed by Alabama law, and Alabama characterizes this as a tort case."
(Emphasis added.)
Continental Motors first argues that this Court should not consider the gear manufacturers' argument that the Restatement of Conflict applies because, it states, the gear manufacturers did not argue before the trial court that the Restatement of Conflict should apply when characterizing a claim for the purpose of determining the applicable statute of limitations. Although this Court has often stated that we will not reverse a judgment based on an argument made for the first time on appeal,
Continental Motors further argues that because Oklahoma substantive law governs its indemnity claims, the nature of its indemnity claims under Oklahoma law controls the determination of which Alabama statute of limitations applies. Therefore, Continental Motors argues, the trial court correctly applied Oklahoma law in deciding that Alabama's six-year statute of limitations for contracts applies. In support of its argument, Continental Motors relies on Denton v. Sam Blount, Inc., 669 So.2d 951 (Ala.Civ.App.1995); Velde v. Swanson, 679 S.W.2d 627 (Tex.App.1984); Leek v. Wieand, 2 N.J.Super. 339, 63 A.2d 828 (1949); and German National Bank v. Zimmer, 141 Ky. 401, 132 S.W. 1023 (1911). After reviewing these cases, we conclude that they do not provide persuasive authority for the proposition that because Oklahoma law governs Continental Motors' indemnity claims, the trial court correctly used Oklahoma substantive law to characterize those claims for statute-of-limitations purposes. This Court has not found any caselaw holding that when a foreign state's substantive
Finally, Continental Motors argues that the gear manufacturers' argument that the Restatement of Conflict should apply is contrary to well established Alabama law. Continental Motors construes the gear manufacturers' argument as asking this Court to "abandon the common law rule of lex loci delicti." Continental Motors' brief, at 34. We do not so interpret the gear manufacturers' argument. The gear manufacturers have cited § 124 of the Restatement of Conflict as one authority of many cited in support of their contention that the law of the forum state is applied to characterize a claim for statute-of-limitations purposes; it is not necessary for this Court to adopt or reject the Restatement of Conflict in deciding this case. Whatever our decision, as stated previously, Alabama law applies the rule of lex loci delicti to determine the substantive law applicable to tort claims brought in an Alabama court when the underlying injury occurred in another state. That rule is applicable in this case. Oklahoma substantive law clearly applies to Continental Motors' claims, but Alabama law applies to any procedural matters before the trial court.
After reviewing the trial court's order, the parties' arguments, and the authorities provided to this Court, we conclude that the great weight of authorities from the federal courts and from other states that have considered the question before us have concluded that the law of the forum state should be used to characterize a claim before it for statute-of-limitations purposes. We find those authorities persuasive, and we conclude that in this case Alabama law should be used to characterize Continental Motors' indemnity claims. Under Alabama law, an indemnity claim is a tort claim; therefore, Alabama's two-year statute of limitations in tort actions applies. Because Continental Motors brought its indemnity claims more than two years after the date on which they accrued, those claims are barred by Alabama's two-year statute of limitations, and the trial court erred when it denied the gear manufacturers' motions to dismiss.
One final matter remains for our consideration. After this Court granted the gear manufacturers permission to appeal and the parties had briefed the controlling question of law presented, Continental Motors filed a motion it entitled a "motion to affirm based on [the gear manufacturers'] subsequent actions." We treat that motion as a motion to dismiss the gear manufacturers' appeal. As the basis for its motion, Continental Motors states that the gear manufacturers had filed a motion for leave to file a counterclaim against it, which the trial court had granted. Continental Motors then argued that by filing a counterclaim against it, the gear manufacturers "negated any argument that this appeal would advance the termination of this lawsuit or reduce expense" and gained an "advantage based on its failure to timely assert its [c]ounterclaim." Motion to dismiss, at 5-6. Continental Motors further argues that because the gear manufacturers filed a counterclaim, their "assertions that this appeal will materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation and would avoid protracted and expensive litigation are no longer true...." Therefore, Continental Motors concludes, a permissive appeal is no longer proper in this case and this Court should affirm the trial court's order denying the gear manufacturers' motion to dismiss.
The gear manufacturers filed a response in which they asked this Court either to strike Continental Motors' motion or to
We deny Continental Motors' motion to dismiss the appeal. We answer the question posed on interlocutory appeal by holding that Alabama's two-year statute of limitations for tort actions controls in this case. Therefore, we reverse the judgment of the trial court denying the gear manufacturers' motion to dismiss and remand the cause for the trial court to dismiss Continental Motors' indemnity claims against the gear manufacturers on the basis that they are time-barred.
MOTION TO DISMISS APPEAL DENIED; REVERSED AND REMANDED.
MOORE, C.J., and STUART, BOLIN, PARKER, WISE, and BRYAN, JJ., concur.
MURDOCK and SHAW, JJ., dissent.
MURDOCK, Justice (dissenting).
Forsyth v. Cessna Aircraft Co., 520 F.2d 608, 609 (9th Cir.1975).
I agree that we must apply the choice-of-law principles of the forum state, in this case Alabama, in order to decide which state's substantive law will be applied to the claims at issue. Alabama follows the traditional principles of lex loci contractus and lex loci delicti that may direct us to the law of different states depending, at least as a general rule, upon whether the claim at issue is one sounding in contract or tort:
Lifestar Response of Alabama, Inc. v. Admiral Ins. Co., 17 So.3d 200, 213 (Ala.2009) (footnote omitted).
The claims in the present case are for indemnity. Application of the conflict-of-law
Our task in the present case, however, is aided by an additional principle peculiar to claims for contribution and indemnity that either derives from the above-stated choice-of-law rules or, at the least, is not foreclosed by those choice-of-law rules. The main opinion states this additional principle as follows:
135 So.3d at 956 (emphasis added). In like manner, the brief of Continental Motors, Inc. ("CMI"), argues that the traditional rule of lex loci delicti that applies the law of the place of injury to an underlying tort claim extends that same law to a related claim for indemnity or contribution:
Brief of CMI, at 25-26.
We are presented in this case with no argument to the contrary of this supplemental principle peculiar to claims for indemnity and contribution. At least insofar as the present case is concerned, therefore, I accept this supplemental principle and look to the substantive law of the state in which occurred the injury giving rise to the underlying tort action. That state in this case is Oklahoma.
The opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals in Denton v. Sam Blount, Inc., 669 So.2d 951 (Ala.Civ.App.1995), indicates that, once it is determined which state's substantive law is applicable to a claim brought in an Alabama forum, one looks to that state's substantive law regarding whether the claim is one in contract or in tort for purposes of selecting from among the various limitations periods offered by Alabama law. See also Velde v. Swanson, 679 S.W.2d 627, 629-30 (Tex.Ct.App.1984); Leek v. Wieand, 2 N.J.Super. 339, 349, 63 A.2d 828, 834 (1949); and German Nat'l Bank v. Zimmer, 141 Ky. 401, 132 S.W. 1023 (1911).
How can we not adhere to such a rule? Specifically, if we are to rely on the law of another state for the very existence of a cause of action and for the very substance of that cause of action, how can we reject what that law says as to what that substance is — contract or tort?
Thus, once it is determined that the substantive law of the State of Oklahoma
SHAW, Justice (dissenting).
When presented with a conflict-of-laws issue, Alabama courts apply the principles of lex loci delicti and lex loci contractus.
Lifestar Response of Alabama, Inc. v. Admiral Ins. Co., 17 So.3d 200, 213 (Ala.2009) (citations and footnote omitted).
In this case, Continental Motors, Inc., has filed an action against various defendants seeking indemnity or contribution relating to a judgment against it in a wrongful-death action resulting from an airplane crash that occurred in Oklahoma. In determining the substantive law that applies to these claims, the main opinion accepts the rule of other jurisdictions that, when confronted with this conflict-of-laws issue, a court determines the character of such indemnity or contribution claims by where the underlying claim arose:
General Motors Corp. v. National Auto Radiator Mfg. Co., Ltd., 694 F.2d 1050, 1053 (6th Cir.1982) (citations omitted).
Although the rule of General Motors would seem to indicate that Oklahoma's statute of limitations would apply, statutes of limitations are generally considered to be procedural in nature; thus, under the "characterization" analysis of Etheredge, another state's statute of limitations would not be "enforced," and Alabama's statute of limitations would instead apply. The controlling question of law in this permissive appeal under Rule 5, Ala. R.App. P., asks which statute of limitations under Alabama law is applicable to Continental's indemnity/contribution claims — the two-year limitations period applicable to tort claims or the six-year period applicable to contract claims.
The main opinion undertakes a second conflict-of-laws analysis to determine which Alabama procedural law applies, i.e., which statute of limitations applies. It couches this analysis in terms of "characterizing"