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Question 1

What is the rules of decision act?

Answer 1

This is a federal statute passed by Congress saying that the laws of the several states, except when the Constitution, treaties, or US statutes otherwise require, are the rules of decision in civil actions in courts of the US where they apply.

This essentially directs federal courts to apply state law for issues that are not governed by a pertinent and valid federal rule. If a federal rule does exist though, it governs.

Question 2

What is the applicable law in diversity cases?

Answer 2

Federal courts must use state substantive law and federal procedural law.

Question 3

How does choice of law work for supplemental jurisdictional issues?

Answer 3

The court must apply the state law to the supplemental claim

Question 4

What does a federal court do in a diversity case when the state’s highest court has not decided a case on the issue for the federal court to follow?

Answer 4

The court can either:

• make a prediction about what they think the state Supreme Court would say in the case, or
• they can certify the issues by petition to the state Supreme Court

Question 5

How does prediction work when the federal government has a diversity case and there’s a particular issue of state law where the state’s highest court has not decided that issue?

Answer 5

The federal judge gives regard to trial and intermediate appellate court decisions, but must apply the announced law, or as it will be announced, of the state’s highest court.

The federal court can predict how a state court will decide the case today by looking at: data, lower court decisions, trends, dicta, legal development, etc. The judge must be firmly convinced of how the state supreme court would rule and must have strong evidence that the law will change.

Question 6

Why is it smart for a plaintiff to file in federal court instead of state court if they think that a change in the state court’s law is imminent?

Answer 6

Because lower courts must follow precedent, so they must appeal again and again until it reaches the state Supreme Court. But if the plaintiff starts out in federal court, the federal judge has the authority to make an immediate prediction

Question 7

If a federal court makes a bad prediction about how the state supreme court would rule on an issue that the federal court is dealing with in diversity, what happens?

Answer 7

If a prediction is made and shortly afterward the state Supreme Court rules on the issue and decides contrary to it, courts will not reopen the case. It’s always possible that a later decision will not align with this one, so it is more important to give parties finality

Question 8

What is involved in certification when a federal court has a case in diversity and there is no state Supreme Court decision on the issue?

Answer 8

Some states allow the federal courts that have thorny issues to certify them by petition to the state Supreme Court who treats them like a regular appeals case, gives an opinion to resolve the issue, then the parties return to the federal court and continue. This is lengthy and expensive so state supreme courts can refuse to accept these cases

Question 9

What are the major tests to be implemented on an essay that discusses Erie?

Answer 9

• outcome determination test [York]

– interest balancing test [Byrd]

Question 10

What is involved in the outcome determinative test for Erie?

Answer 10

This focusses on whether the outcome would be different under state versus federal law. If there’s a substantial likelihood that a different result will occur, the state law might need to be followed so that forum shopping between the two courts and inequitable administration of laws doesn’t happen.

Erie only wants a change of courtrooms, not outcomes. This applies procedural rules in a way that doesn’t change the outcome.

Question 11

What are things that are considered to be substantive?

Answer 11

Rights, obligations, duties, responsibilities of parties. This is anything that deals with the underlying merits

Question 12

What are some examples of substantive things?

Answer 12

Conflict of laws, burden of proof, contributory negligence, as a well-being stopped are tolled

Question 13

What is considered to be procedural?

Answer 13

Rules about how to file a case, make motions, do discovery, timing, service of process, etc. This is anything that deals with the process of litigation

Question 14

What is involved in the interest balancing test of Erie?

Answer 14

This balances the importance to the state that the case should be decided according to their rules and the importance to the federal judiciary that it be decided by their rules.

Federal courts must honor state-created rights and obligations of state courts. If the rule is just procedural, federal courts don’t have to follow state practice. Federal courts should outcome determinative state law even on procedural issues when there’s federal authority to make its own rule.

Essentially if one approach, either federal or state, over the other would mean a different outcome, the court looks at factors like how strong the interest is, the degree in certainty a different result would occur. Is that enough just to have a possibility that the outcome would be different.

Question 15

What are the three major cases that are involved in a discussion of Erie?

Answer 15

• York [outcome determination test]
  – Byrd interest balancing test]
  – Hannah [modifies York, so always discuss together]

Question 16

What is involved in the Hannah case and how does it relate to a discussion of Erie?

Answer 16

Hannah modified York, so always discuss together.

Question 17

What was the Hanna case with regard to Erie?

Answer 17

Any rule, either procedural or substantive, could become outcome determinative at some point, so you must always ask if it is the kind of difference that would make a plaintiff, at the beginning of the case, prefer federal court over state court or vice versa.

This means that federal courts must apply the York outcome determinative test from the perspective of the plaintiff deciding which court to file her suit in. If the rule is the kind that would influence the outcome so much that the federal court’s decision to disregard it would encourage forum shopping from the outset of the case, then the rule is outcome determinative/substantive and the federal court must apply it under Erie. If the rule is the kind that wouldn’t make the plaintiff choose one court over another, then it is procedural and the federal courts follow their own rules.

This approach is used when there’s a direct conflict between federal rules and state rules. If there is no conflict, use state law. If there is a conflict then the federal rule controls so long as it is intended to apply to that situation and is validly enacted

Question 18

If a plaintiff brought a diversity negligence suit in Massachusetts district court for a car accident and the plaintiff served the defendant under FR 4 by giving it to the defendant’s wife at home [but it needed to be in-hand service to the person under Massachusetts statute]. What would the court do according to York and Hannah?

Answer 18

The court would say that the rules about how to serve notice weren’t the kind that would make the plaintiff choose a state court instead of a federal court or vice versa, so even though at summary judgement the choice of rules are outcome determinative, it wasn’t at the beginning of the suit. This means that federal court didn’t have to use state rules