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Conflict of Laws - Application of Orumf State's Statute of Limitations to Litigation with Which the State Has No Significant Contacts Is Unconstitutional

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Conflict of Laws - Application of Orumf State's Statute of Limitations to Litigation with Which the State Has No Significant Contacts Is Unconstitutional View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Villanova University School of Law: Digital Repository Volume 33 Issue 3 Article 7 1988 Conflict of Laws - Application of orumF State's Statute of Limitations to Litigation with Which the State Has No Significant Contacts Is Unconstitutional David A. Ebby Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr Part of the Conflict of Laws Commons Recommended Citation David A. Ebby, Conflict of Laws - Application of orumF State's Statute of Limitations to Litigation with Which the State Has No Significant Contacts Is Unconstitutional, 33 Vill. L. Rev. 610 (1988). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr/vol33/iss3/7 This Issues in the Third Circuit is brought to you for free and open access by Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Villanova Law Review by an authorized editor of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. Ebby: Conflict of Laws - Application of Forum State's Statute of Limita 1988] CONFLICT OF LAWS-APPLICATION OF FORUM STATE'S STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS TO LITIGATION WITH WHICH THE STATE HAS No SIGNIFICANT CONTACTS IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL Ferens v. Deere & Co. (1987)t Under Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Manufacturing Co.,' a federal dis- trict court sitting in diversity must apply the choice-of-law rules of the state in which it sits. If a diversity suit is transferred from one federal district court to another, Van Dusen v. Barrack 2 directs that the transfer does not result in the application of a new choice-of-law rule. Klaxon and Barrack, however, are subject to the restrictions that the due pro- cess 3 and full faith and credit clauses4 impose on states' choice-of-law decisions. 5 "[F]or a State's substantive law to be selected in a constitu- t On June 27, 1988, the United States Supreme Court vacated the Third Circuit's decision in Ferens, and remanded the case to the Third Circuit for further consideration in light of Sun Oil Co. v. Wortman, 108 S. Ct. 2117 (1988). Ferens v. Deere, 108 S. Ct. 2862 (1988). At issue in Wortman was the constitutionality of the application of the Kansas statute of limitations to a claim having essentially no contacts with that state. Wortrnan, 108 S. Ct. at 2120. The Court held that "the Constitution does not bar the application of the forum State's statute of limitations to claims that in their substance are and must be governed by the law of a different State." Id. at 2121. The Court based its decision on the founding fathers' expectations that the full faith and credit clause would be interpreted according to the principles of international conflicts law and subsequent legal practice. Id. at 2123, 2125. Justice Brennan, joined by Justice Marshall and Justice Blackmun, concurred in the result because "the contact a State has with a claim simply by virtue of being the forum creates a sufficient procedural interest to make the application of its limitations period to wholly out-of-state claims consistent with the Full Faith and Credit clause." Id. at 2129 (Brennan, J., concurring). The Third Circuit must accept Wortman as binding precedent on the issue of the constitutionality of the application of a forum state's statute of limitations to a claim having essentially no contacts with that state. However, it is the opinion of the author that the Third Circuit's analysis in Ferens, as more fully set forth in this casebrief, is more consonant with the principles and policies of conflicts of laws jurisprudence than the Wortman decision. In addition, if there existed only one possible basis for the Third Circuit's decision in Ferens, Wortman would control and the Third Circuit would have no choice but to uphold the application of Mississippi's statute of limitations to the Ferens' claim. This casebrief, however, suggests an alternative basis for the result reached by the Third Circuit in Ferens. This alternative basis avoids the constitutional issue decided by Wortman. See infra notes 122-31 and accompanying text. Thus, on remand, the author suggests that the Third Circuit should affirm the result it reached in Ferens on the basis of the proposed alternative theory. 1. 313 U.S. 487 (1941). 2. 376 U.S. 612 (1964). 3. U.S. CONST. amend. V. 4. U.S. CONST. art. IV, § 1. 5. "We do not suggest that the application of transferor state law is free (610) Published by Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository, 1988 1 Villanova Law Review, Vol. 33, Iss. 3 [1988], Art. 7 1988] THIRD CIRCUIT REVIEW tionally permissible manner, that State must have a significant contact or aggregation of contacts, creating state interests, such that choice of its law is neither arbitrary nor fundamentally unfair."' 6 The United States Supreme Court has never considered the constitutionality of the appli- cation of a forum state's statute of limitations to litigation with which the state has essentially no significant contacts.7 However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently considered precisely this from constitutional limitations." Barrack, 376 U.S. at 639 n.41 (citing Watson v. Employers Liab. Assurance Corp., 348 U.S. 66 (1954); Hughes v. Fetter, 341 U.S. 609 (1951); Pacific Employers Ins. Co. v. Industrial Accident Comm'n, 306 U.S. 493 (1939); Alaska Packers Ass'n v. Industrial Accident Comm'n, 294 U.S. 532 (1935); Home Ins. Co. v. Dick, 281 U.S. 397 (1930)). 6. Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, 472 U.S. 797, 818 (1985) (quoting All- state Ins. Co. v. Hague, 449 U.S. 302, 312-13 (1981)); see also Clay v. Sun Ins. Office, Ltd., 377 U.S. 179 (1964) (application of Florida law valid because plain- tiff resided in Florida for three years prior to action and defendant insured items nationally); Watson v. Employers Liab. Assurance Corp., 348 U.S. 66 (1954) (ap- plication of Louisiana law valid because product bought and used in Louisiana by plaintiff and defendant doing business in Louisiana); John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Yates, 299 U.S. 178 (1936) (plaintiff's post-occurrence move to Geor- gia not enough for valid application of Georgia law to suit on policy issued in New York); Alaska Packers Ass'n v. Industrial Accident Comm'n, 294 U.S. 532 (1935) (California Workman's Compensation Act applicable to case where em- ployee signed employment contract in California); Home Ins. Co. v. Dick, 281 U.S. 397 (1930) (despite plaintiff's nominal Texas residency, Texas law voiding shorter contractual limitations provisions could not be applied to contract is- sued, executed and payable in Mexico). 7. Regardless of the degree of contact between a forum and a cause of ac- tion, the forum, under traditional choice-of-law principles applies its own proce- dural rules to the litigation. Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 465 U.S. 770,778 n.10 (1984); see also RESTATEMENT (SEcoND) OF CONFLICT OF LAws § 122 (1971); R. LEFLAR, L. McDoUGAL, & R. FELIX, AMERICAN CONFLICTS LAw § 121, at 331 (4th ed. 1986) [hereinafter LEFLAR]; R. WEINTRAUB, COMMENTARY ON THE CON- FLICT OF LAws § 3.2, at 47 (3d ed. 1986). The common law has traditionally characterized statutes of limitations as procedural, and thus regardless of the contacts between a forum and a cause of action, the forum, subject to certain exceptions, imposes its own statute of limitations on the litigation. Keeton, 465 U.S. at 778 n.10; Wells v. Simonds Abrasive Co., 345 U.S. 514, 518 (1953); see also LEFLAR, supra, § 127, at 348; R. WEINTRAUB, supra § 3.2C2, at 56. In Keeton, the United States Supreme Court stated: There has been considerable academic criticism of the rule that permits a forum State to apply its own statute of limitations regardless of the significance of contacts between the forum State and the litigation.... But we find it unnecessary to express an opinion at this time whether any arguable unfairness rises to the level of a due process violation. Keeton, 465 U.S. at 778 n.10. Three federal courts of appeals have ruled that the application of the forum state's statute in these circumstances is constitutional. See Goad v. Celotex Corp., 831 F.2d 508 (4th Cir. 1987) (forum traditionally applies forum state's statute of limitations; statutes of limitations are procedural; constitutional limits imposed on states' substantive choice-of-law decisions inapplicable); Cowan v. Ford Motor Co., 694 F.2d 104 (5th Cir. 1982) (same); Schreiber v. Allis-Chal- mers Corp., 611 F.2d 790 (10th Cir. 1979) (same). For the Ferens court's treat- ment of Schreiber, see infra notes 38-45 and accompanying text. For criticism of Goad, Cowan and Schreiber, see infra notes 92-107 and accompanying text. https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr/vol33/iss3/7 2 Ebby: Conflict of Laws - Application of Forum State's Statute of Limita 612 VILLANOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 33: p. 610 issue in Ferens v. Deere & Co. 8 Ferens involved a personal injury claim filed in Mississippi for the sole purpose of taking advantage of that state's six-year statute of limita- tions. 9 The action was then transferred to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.' 0 On appeal, the Third Circuit held in Ferens that the due process and full faith and credit clauses of the United States Constitution prevented the application of Mississippi's statute of limitations to the claim, because Mississippi had no significant contacts with the occurrence or transaction giving rise to the claim.
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