Conflicts Flashcards
Sister State Judgments
Full Faith and Credit applies (and evaluate using the law of the rendering state):
(1) Jurisdiction - rendering state must have had jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter (exception: when the issue of jurisdiction has been fully and fairly litigated, the jurisdictional determination is itself entitled to full faith and credit
(2) On the Merits - the judgment entered by the rendering state must have been on the merits
(3) Finality
Not on the merits for FF&C purposes
lack of jurisdiction, misjoinder, improper venue, and failure to state a claim
Terminology
the place where the judgment was originally entered is referred to as the rendering jurisdiction, and the place where recognition is being sought is referred to as the recognizing jurisdiction
Defenses to FF&C
(1) penal judgments; (2) extrinsic fraud (a judgment obtained by extrinsic fraud is not entitled to full faith and credit; extrinsic fraud is fraud that could not be corrected during the regular course of proceedings leading to the judgment.
Attractive but invalid defenses
public policy and mistake
Foreign judgments
Under the principles of comity, a recognizing court will exercise discretion to decide whether the foreign judgment should be recognized (will consider if the foreign court had jurisdiction and whether the procedures were fair).
Core answer to “which state’s law’s govern?”
The governing law is the law selected by the forum court according to its choice of law approach
Vested rights stock paragraph
Under this approach, the court will apply the law of that state mandated by the applicable vesting rule. That rule is selected according to the relevant substantive area of law.”
Interest analysis stock paragrpah
Under this approach, the court will consider which states have a legitimate interest in the outcome of the litigation. The forum court will apply its own law as long as it has a legitimate interest. If the forum state has no legitimate interest, it will apply the law of another interested state.
Second Restatement “Most Significant Relationship Test”
Under this approach, the court will apply the law of the state which is most significantly related to the outcome of the litigation. To determine this, the court will consider connecting facts and policy principles.
Second Restatement policy-oriented principles
(1) needs of interstate systems; (2) relevant policies of forum; (3) policies and interests of other jurisdictions; (4) expectations of parties; (5) basic policies underlying substantive law; (6) predictability and uniformity of result; (7) ease of determination of foreign law.
Vested Rights Steps
(1) characterize area of law; (2) state choice of law rule; (3) apply
Second Restatement Relationship Test Steps
(1) consider connecting facts; (2) apply policy principles; (3) decide
Interest Analysis Steps
(1) assume forum will apply its own law, unless requested to apply another; (2) if it is requested to apply another state’s law, check for false conflict; (3) if false conflict, apply the law of interested state; (4) if true conflict, forum reconsiders its policies (can dismiss for forum non conveniens if it doesn’t really have an interest)
**If no interested state, most courts apply law of forum
Vesting Torts Rule
Governing law is where the injury occurred
