Conflict of Laws Flashcards
Domicile of Individuals
Where the person is physically present with the intent to remain
Domicile of Corporation
State where it is incorporated
The burden of showing a change in domicile is on…
The party that asserts it
State choice-of-law rules generally have 3 sources
- Specific choice-of-law statutes
- Contractual choice-of-law agreements
- General choice-of-law rules governed by forum state common law
Under the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment, the Court has held that a forum state may apply its own law to a particular case only if…
It has significant contact or significant aggregation of contacts with the state such that a choice of its law is neither arbitrary nor fundamentally unfair
The Full Faith and Credit clause requires a forum state to apply the law of another state when the forum state has…
No contacts with or interest in the controversy
Most courts will enforce a contractual choice-of-law provision if it is… (4)
- A valid agreement with an effective choice-of-law clause
- Applicable to the lawsuit under the terms of the contract
- Reasonably related to the lawsuit (i.e. the law to be applied is from a state with connections to the parties or the contract} and
- Not in violation of public policy of the forum state or an interested state
3 approaches to how courts generally approach choice-of-law questions
- Vested rights approach
- Most significant relationship approach
- Governmental interest approach
Vested-Rights Approach
Looks for the location where the last liable event took place
This approach looks to the jurisdiction where the parties’ rights are vested, meaning where the act or relationship that gives rise to the cause of action occurred or was created
Vested-Rights Approach
Most-Significant Relationship Approach
Applies the law of the state with the most significant relationship to the issue in question
Governmental Interest Approach
It is presumed that the forum state will apply its own law, but the parties may request that another state’s law be applied. If a party makes such a request, then that party must identify the policies of competing laws
Under the governmental interest approach, if there is a false conflict (the forums has no interest in the litigation), then
the court applies the law of the state that does have an interest in the case
Under the governmental interest approach, if there is a true conflict (forum state and another state both have an interest in the litigation), then
the forum state will review its own policies to determine which law should apply. If the conflict cannot be resolved, then the law of the forum state is applied
In federal diversity cases, the fed district court is generally required to apply the conflict of laws rules of
the state in which it sits
If a diversity case is transferred under federal venue law from a federal court in one state to a federal court in another state, which state’s choice of law rules will apply?
the first state’s
The Full Faith and Credit Clause does not require a state to apply another’s state’s law in violation of
its own legitimate public policy
Most courts will enforce a contractual choice-of-law provision if it is (4)
- A valid agreement with an effective choice of law doctrine
- Applicable to the lawsuit under the terms of the contract
- Reasonably related to the lawsuit (i.e. the law to be applied is from a state with connections to the parties or the contract) and
- Not in violation of the public policy of the forum state or another interested state
Under the vested-rights approach, a tort case will be governed by the law of the place where…
the wrong was committed. This means the place where the last event necessary to make the actor liable for the tort took place (generally the place where the person or thing that is injured is situated at the time of the wrong)
In a torts case, under the most-significant-relationship approach, the court considers 4 important contacts
- place of injury
- place where conduct causing injury occurred
- domicile, residence, place of incorporation, or place of business of the parties
- place where the relationship was centered
In a torts case, under the governmental-interest approach, the forum state generally looks to
its own law, so long as that state has a legitimate interest in applying its own law
If there is an express choice-of-law provision in the contract, then the law will govern unless (3)
- it is contrary to public policy
- there is no reasonable basis for the parties’ choice
- OR there was a fraud or mistake and true consent was not given
Under the vested rights approach, the law of the place where the contract is executed will apply to the following issues (3)
- Validity of the contract
- Defenses to the formation of the contract
- Interpretation of the contract
Under the vested rights approach, the law of the place where the contract was to be performed will apply to the following issues (4)
- Details of the performance such as time and manner of performance
- The person who is obligated to perform and the person to whom performance is to be made
- Sufficiency of performance
- excuses for nonperformance
