Conflicts MEE

Question 1

If a party is seeking or challenging enforcement of a judgment from a rendering state in a different state:

Answer 1

If the rendering state is a US state:

Constitutional obligation of states to accept a judgment according to the Full Faith and Credit Act.

• If it was a valid jurisdiction (PJ and SMJ)
• the judgment was on the merits
• it was final
• and there are no defenses (tax judgments, perjury, public policy)

If the rendering state is a foreign country:

• if the foreign ct had jurisdiction according to their laws
• and their procedures were fair

Question 2

If a court doesn’t know which substantive law to apply because there are multiple states connected to the case and their laws lead to different results

Answer 2

If it’s a federal ct doing a diversity case–> apply COL laws of the sitting state.
If it’s a case that was voluntarily transferred from a proper venue of federal ct to a diff federal ct venue–> apply COL laws of the transferor state
Otherwise–> the forum ct will apply its COL laws

All state COL laws are constitutional as long as based on significant contact or legitimate interest. Use these statutes if they exist, if not, apply common law.

All procedural laws are always according to forum court (including SOL, except for borrowing and wrongful death)

Question 3

Types of state COL law approaches

Answer 3

1. Vested Rights- the COL law to apply is the one of the state where the injury occurred.

Specific Vesting rules for categories:

• COL provisions in contracts cases
• the site of property or disposition in property cases
• the place of the marriage, domicile of parents/children in family

2. Interest Analysis- the COL to apply is the one of the state that has legitimate interest

false conflict- the laws are the same- interested state law applies
true conflicts- the forum applies, if it’s interested

3. Most Significant Relationship- the COL to apply is the one of the state that has connecting facts and is according to public policy

Look at the facts of where everything occurred and the ways the laws of the states affect the case to see which state has the more significant relationship (property and family is the same, torts is almost always the injury state, contracts is according to the provision)

Exception: If there is ever a difference in law that affects damages, and the parties have the same domicile, apply the domicile law