Questions?

1. Questions?

2. Today’s Class • Hanna v. Plummer: • Two tracks on the Erie railroad. • Some hypos to apply the Hanna framework. • The Court’s Preference for the Statutory Track: • Burlington Northern Railroad. • Stewart Organization. • The most recent Erie decision: • Shady Grove.

3. Hanna v. Plumer (1965)

4. The Rules Enabling Act (a) The Supreme Court shall have the power to prescribe, by general rules, the forms of process, writs, pleadings, and motions, and the practice and procedure of the district courts of the United States in civil actions. (b) Such rules shall not abridge, enlarge or modify any substantive right and shall preserve the right to trial by jury . . .

5. How to Determine if a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Complies with the Rules Enabling Act? “The test must be whether a rule really regulates procedure—the judicial process for enforcing rights and duties recognized by substantive law and for justly administering remedy and redress for disregard or infraction of them.” Sibbach v. Wilson & Co. (1941).

6. “The test is not whether the rule affects a litigant’s substantive rights; most procedural rules do. What matters is what the rule itself regulates: If it governs only ‘the manner and means’ by which litigants rights are ‘enforced’ it is valid; if it alters the ‘rules of decision by which [the] court will adjudicate [those] rights,’ it is not.” Shady Grove (Scalia, J., plurality) (internal cites omitted).

7. Two Tracks on the Erie Railroad Statutory Constitutional

8. The Two Tracks of Erie from Hanna:Track I (Statutory) If a state law conflicts with a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (or a federal statute), then the federal court will use the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (or federal statute) unless, the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure does not comply with the Rules Enabling Act (or is otherwise unconstitutional) or the federal statute is otherwise unconstitutional (e.g., it violates the due process clause).

9. The Two Tracks of Erie from Hanna:Track II (Constitutional) If a federal judicial practice (not a Rule of Civil Procedure/statute) conflicts with a state law, then the state law should be used if use of the federal judicial practice would lead to: 1. Forum-shopping; or 2. The inequitable administration of the laws. And if there is not a strong federal interest in using the federal judicial practice. See Byrd.

10. HYPO Kim Kardashian, a citizen of California, sues Snooki, a citizen of New Jersey, in federal district court in New Jersey for injuries arising out of a traffic accident. Assume that New Jersey tort law applies to the case. Also assume that in New Jersey a complaint must be stated in “substantial factual detail” and that Kardashian’s complaint does not meet New Jersey’s “substantial factual detail” standard. What will Snooki try to argue to the district court? Under Hanna, how might the district court rule on Snooki’s argument?

11. HYPO Kim Kardashian, a citizen of California, sues Snooki, a citizen of New Jersey, in federal district court in New Jersey for injuries arising out of a traffic accident. Assume that New Jersey tort law applies to the case and that in New Jersey a prevailing plaintiff may recover up to $2,000 in expert witness fees from the other side. Assume also that Congress has passed a statute that allows a prevailing plaintiff in federal court to recover up to $1,000 in expert witness fees from the other side. Kardashian prevailed in her lawsuit and, as part of her case, paid an expert witness $1,500. How much money should the federal district court award to Kardashian? Why?

12. HYPO Kim Kardashian, a citizen of California, sues Snooki, a citizen of New Jersey, in federal district court in New Jersey for injuries arising out of a traffic accident. Assume that New Jersey tort law applies to the case. Also assume New Jersey has a state rule of civil procedure that says judges must give jurors a written copy of the jury instructions. Assume also that in federal courts, the traditional practice is to give the jury oral instructions and not to provide the jury with written instructions. Assume that Snooki wants the New Jersey law regarding jury instructions to apply because she thinks it makes it more likely that the jury will go with her side of the case. Must the federal district judge in Kardashian v. Snooki instruct the jury in writing?

13. The Two Tracks of Erie from Hanna:Track II (Constitutional) If a federal judicial practice (not a Rule of Civil Procedure/statute) conflicts with a state law, then the state law should be used if use of the federal judicial practice would lead to: 1. Forum-shopping; or 2. The inequitable administration of the laws. And if there is not a strong federal interest in using the federal judicial practice. See Byrd.