Conflicts 2 Flashcards
(20 cards)
Introductory language for Second Restatement answers (most-significant relationship test) (lecture)
There are seven guiding principles for the most-significant relationship test
The court must determine which state has the most significant relationship to the issue in question.
In making this determination, the court should strive to:
1) promote the relevant policies of the forum and other interested states,
2) advance systemic interests such as certainty, uniformity, predictability, and simplicity, and
3) protect justified expectations of the parties.
Due process requirements for choice of law (quote this in the beginning)
Under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that a forum state may apply its own law to a particular case only if it has a significant contact or significant aggregation of contacts with the state such that a choice of its law is neither arbitrary nor fundamentally unfair.
Contractual Choice of Law:
For matters of contract validity, when may the parties choose which state’s law applies?
AKA, when will courts enforce a part-controlled choice of law provision?
Most courts will enforce a contractual choice-of-law provision if it is:
1) A valid agreement with an effective choice-of-law clause;
2) Applicable to the lawsuit under the terms of the contract;
3) 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
4) Not in violation of the public policy of the forum state or another interested state.
Issue Checklist: How to approach choice of law problems (FRO)
1) Does the court have jurisdiction?
2) Is venue proper?
3) Identify the conflict of laws issue (e.g., P was injured in State B but sues in State A, where P is domiciled. State A allows punitive damages but State B does not. Which law will apply?)
4) Characterize the area of substantive law (e.g., torts/negligence)
5) Determine the choice of law approach that applies (by forum state law or specific statute)
○ Vested Rights
○ Most Significant Relationship (most common)
○ Governmental Interest
6) Apply the facts to the approach (if it is unclear which approach will apply, discuss all that might apply)
Under the traditional/vested rights approach, what will courts look to when assessing the law of the state where the transaction or event occurred is applied? (EP)
Generally, courts will for the location where the last “liable event” took place
What is presumed under the governmental interest approach? (EP)
How does a false conflict differ from a true conflict? (EP)
Under the 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.
If there is a false conflict (i.e., the forum has no interest in the litigation), then the court applies the law of the state that does have an interest in the case.
If there is a true conflict (i.e., the 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.
What conflict of law rules apply in federal diversity cases? (EP)
In federal diversity cases, the federal district court is generally required to apply the conflict-of-laws rules of the state in which it sits.
However, if a diversity case was transferred under federal venue law from a federal court in one state to a federal court in a different state, then the first state’s choice-of-law rules will be applied.
How does the vested rights approach apply to contracts? (EP)
Under the vested-rights approach, certain contractual issues are deemed to vest in the location where the contract was executed, while others are deemed to vest in the location where the contract was to be performed.
The law of the place where the contract is executed will apply to the following issues:
- Validity of the contract;
- Defenses to formation of the contract; and
- Interpretation of the contract.
The law of the location where the contract was to be performed will apply to:
- Details of 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; and
- Excuses for nonperformance.
What are the two default rules for land contracts and personal property under contract law? (EP)
What is the main exception?
Land contracts are controlled by the law of the state of the situs (location) of the land.
Personalty (personal property) contracts are controlled by the law of the state where the place of delivery is located.
These default rules will generally apply UNLESS another state is found to have a more significant relationship with regard to the issue.
What choice of law rules apply to tangible personal property under property law? (EP)
What about secured transaction? (EP)
The UCC generally governs most issues involving the sale of (or security interests in) tangible personal property. Under the UCC, the parties may stipulate to the applicable law that will govern the transaction or, in the absence of such stipulation, the forum state will apply its version of the UCC “to transactions bearing an appropriate relation to” the forum state.
Under the UCC, the law governing the perfection, non-perfection, and priority of security interests in tangible and intangible collateral is generally the law of the state in which the debtor is located.
What two choice of law approaches apply to tangible personal property for transactions not governed by the UCC? (EP)
What is one exception?
1) Vested rights approach
The creation and transfer of interests in tangible personal property are governed by the law of the state in which the property was located at the time of the transaction at issue.
2) Most-significant relationship approach
Under the most-significant-relationship approach, the law of the situs (location) of the tangible personal property at the time that the relevant transaction took place generally determines the choice of law.
This default rule ^ will generally apply UNLESS another state is found to have a more significant relationship with regard to the issue.
What choice of law governs inheritances for both personal and real property? (EP)
Questions regarding the validity of a decedent’s will regarding personal property and the transfer of personal property from someone who dies intestate or who has a will are governed by the law of the deceased’s domicile at the time of death.
Questions regarding the validity of a decedent’s will regarding real property and the transfer of real property from someone who dies intestate or who has a will are governed by the law of the situs.
What choice of law rules control questions of law relating to grounds for divorce? (EP)
What about recognition of divorce decree?
Questions of law relating to the grounds for divorce are controlled by the law of the
plaintiff’s domicile in a divorce matter.
What are the three main arguments against the application of foreign law (law from another state)? (EP)
The law to be applied is:
1) Procedural, rather than substantive;
2) Against public policy; or
3) A penal law.
What laws are generally considered procedural? (EP)
1) The proper court in which to bring an action;
2) The sufficiency of the pleadings;
3) The proper or necessary parties to an action;
4) Venue;
5) The rules of discovery;
6) Service of process;
Others (see outline)
In general, when will a court recognize a divorce judgement? (EP)
What about a bilateral divorce?
What about an ex-parte divorce?
Divorce decrees from other states are entitled to full faith and credit as long as the original state had jurisdiction to issue the decree and the decree is valid in the original state. Decrees have proper jurisdiction if at least one person resides where the decree was issued.
If the court has personal jurisdiction over both spouses and at least one spouse is domiciled in the state, then the divorce judgment will be a valid bilateral divorce and will be entitled to full faith and credit.
If the plaintiff spouse seeking divorce is domiciled in the forum state, the courts of that state have jurisdiction to dissolve the plaintiff’s marriage (personal jurisdiction over both spouses not required)
When must a court recognize another court’s child custody decision? (EP)
Under the UCCJEA, a court can make initial custody decisions if it is in the child’s home state, and all other states must give full faith and credit to such decisions.
What is the Klaxon rule? What is the exception? (lecture)
Federal district courts are generally required to apply the choice-of-law rules of the state in which it sits so long as the state’s rules are valid under the Full Faith and Credit and Due Process Clauses of the U.S. Constitution
Exception: If a diversity case was properly filed in a federal court in one state, but then transferred to a federal court in another state pursuant to the federal venue statute, then the transferor state’s choice-of-law rules apply.
What are renvoi and Depeçage?
The Renvoi doctrine requires a forum court applying a foreign state’s law to apply that foreign state’s choice-of flaw rules. This doctrine has been rejected by most states. However, when issues involve property rights in land, courts generally accept renvoi.
Depeçage is a modern approach to choice of law that allows the law of one state to govern one or more issues while other issues are controlled by the law of other states
Are state courts required to recognize the valid judgements of federal courts? (E1)
How does this apply to res judicata?
Yes. Under the U.S. Constitution, state courts are required to give full faith and credit to valid judgments issued by state courts in other states.
State courts are likewise required to honor valid judgments issued by federal courts as those judgments would be treated by other federal courts.
A state court must give the judgment the same res judicata
effect that the judgment would have been given by the
courts of the state where the federal court was located.
