Conflict of Laws - Release in a Tort Action - Effect of Lex Loci Delicti and Contractus

Authors

Stanley A. Williams, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Plaintiff, defendant, and a third party were involved in a three-car collision in Virginia. Plaintiff settled an action against the third party's estate by executing a release, entered into in New York, in which plaintiff reserved any claims which he might have against the defendant. He then sued defendant, a resident of Pennsylvania, in a federal district court in Pennsylvania. The lower court, applying Virginia law to determine the effect of a release of one joint tortfeasor, dismissed plaintiff's action. On appeal, held, affirmed. The law of the place of the tort governs the effect of a release, not the law of the state in which the release was executed. Bittner v. Little, (3d Cir. 1959) 270 F. (2d) 286.

Recommended Citation

Stanley A. Williams, Conflict of Laws - Release in a Tort Action - Effect of Lex Loci Delicti and Contractus, 58 Mich. L. Rev. 1066 (1960).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol58/iss7/8