Opinion ID: 75793
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Multi-Step Analysis under the Erie Doctrine

Text: 19 Against this procedural backdrop, we now address the issue of whether, under the Erie doctrine, state or federal law on forum non conveniens should apply in federal diversity cases. 9 The question of which jurisdiction's law to apply is a legal one that we review de novo. Shaps v. Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co., 244 F.3d 876, 881 (11th Cir.2001). Under the doctrine enunciated in Erie and its progeny, federal courts sitting in diversity apply state substantive law and federal procedural law. Gasperini v. Center for Humanities, Inc., 518 U.S. 415, 427, 116 S.Ct. 2211, 2219, 135 L.Ed.2d 659 (1996); see also Rules of Decision Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1652. 10 Yet, the distinction between substance and procedure can be far from self-evident, and ever since Erie, the [Supreme] Court has struggled to provide criteria to determine when federal law may be used in diversity cases. Erwin Chemerinsky, Federal Jurisdiction § 5.3 at 314-15 (3d ed.1999). Because of the difficulties associated with the application of the Erie doctrine, we have adopted a multi-step analysis for determining whether state or federal law should apply to a particular issue raised in a diversity case. See, e.g., Alexander Proudfoot Co. World Headquarters L.P. v. Thayer, 877 F.2d 912, 917-19 (11th Cir.1989). 20 The first step of the analysis is to determine whether state and federal law conflict with respect to the disputed issue before the district court. If no conflict exists, then the analysis need proceed no further, for the court can apply state and federal law harmoniously to the issue at hand. See Chemerinsky, supra, § 5.3 at 515. However, if the applicable state and federal law conflict, the district court must ask whether a congressional statute or Federal Rule of Civil Procedure covers the disputed issue. Hanna v. Plumer, 380 U.S. 460, 469-70, 85 S.Ct. 1136, 1143, 14 L.Ed.2d 8 (1965). If a federal statute or rule of procedure is on point, the district court is to apply federal rather than state law. Id. at 471, 85 S.Ct. at 1144. 11 If no federal statute or rule is on point, then the court must determine whether federal judge-made law, rather than state law, should be applied. Alexander Proudfoot, 877 F.2d at 917. 21 In making this determination respecting federal judge-made law, the district court should begin its inquiry by deciding whether failure to apply state law to the disputed issue would lead to different outcomes in state and federal court. Guaranty Trust Co. v. York, 326 U.S. 99, 109, 65 S.Ct. 1464, 1470, 89 L.Ed. 2079 (1945). That is, with respect to the state law standard at issue, the court must ask: Would application of the standard have so important an effect upon the fortunes of one or both of the litigants that failure to apply it would unfairly discriminate against citizens of the forum State, or be likely to cause a plaintiff to choose the federal court? Gasperini, 518 U.S. at 428, 116 S.Ct. at 2220 (internal punctuation omitted). 12 If the answer is no, then the district court should apply federal judge-made law. If the answer is yes, meaning that state law is outcome-determinative, the court must apply the state law standard, unless affirmative countervailing federal interests are at stake that warrant application of federal law. Id. at 432, 116 S.Ct. at 2222; Byrd v. Blue Ridge Rural Elec. Coop., 356 U.S. 525, 537, 78 S.Ct. 893, 901, 2 L.Ed.2d 953 (1958). These steps, when taken together, constitute the proper analysis that a district court should employ in cases involving Erie issues. See Chemerinsky, supra, § 5.3 at 315 (summarizing the multi-step Erie analysis). 22