Opinion ID: 669089
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Applicable State and Federal Law

Text: 11 Because the case was transferred under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1404(a) from the Northern District of Illinois, we apply the choice-of-law rules of Illinois. Muldoon v. Tropitone Furniture Co., 1 F.3d 964, 965 (9th Cir.1993) (citing Van Dusen v. Barrack, 376 U.S. 612, 642, 84 S.Ct. 805, 822, 11 L.Ed.2d 945 (1964), for the requirement that the transferee court follow the choice of law rules of the transferor court). 12 Illinois choice of law requires that we apply California law to Newton's state tort law right of publicity and unfair competition claims. Illinois uses the most significant contacts test to determine the applicable law in a tort case. Muldoon, 1 F.3d at 966 (citing Ingersoll v. Klein, 46 Ill.2d 42, 262 N.E.2d 593, 596 (1970)). This test balances four factors: (1) the place where the injury occurred; (2) the place where the conduct occurred; (3) the parties' domicile, nationality, place of incorporation and place of business; and (4) the place where the parties' relationship is centered. Anabaldi v. Sunbeam Corp., 651 F.Supp. 1343, 1344 (N.D.Ill.1987) (quoting Ingersoll, 262 N.E.2d at 596). In this case, the injury (broadcasting and advertising the TV Series with Newton's name) occurred nationally. (Answer, p. 4). The conduct by Appellees (making the TV Series) occurred in California. Newton is domiciled in Tennessee, Thomason and Bloodworth are domiciled in California, and Burt Reynolds is domiciled in Florida. Among the corporate defendants, Mozark Productions, Inc. and MTM Enterprises, Inc. are California corporations, and CBS, Inc. is a New York corporation. The parties' relationship was centered in California: Newton communicated with Appellees by letters and phone calls to California, making California the place where their spheres of activity intersected. Anabaldi, 651 F.Supp. at 1345. Based on this test, the Illinois district court would have been required to apply California law to Newton's state tort claims, and we therefore do the same. 13 As to Newton's federal claim under the Lanham Act, we must decide whether to apply the law of our circuit or the law of the Seventh Circuit. Had the case remained in Illinois, the federal district court there would have been required to apply Seventh Circuit law. But our circuit has not decided whether, in cases involving transfer of a federal claim, the transferee court is required to apply precedent that binds the transferor court. In resolving this issue, we are persuaded by the approach taken by the D.C. Circuit in In re Korean Air Lines Disaster, 829 F.2d 1171 (D.C.Cir.1987), aff'd on other grounds sub nom. Chan v. Korean Air Lines, Ltd., 490 U.S. 122, 109 S.Ct. 1676, 104 L.Ed.2d 113 (1989). There, in resolving an identical question under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1407, the D.C. Circuit correctly pointed out that [b]inding precedent for all [courts] is set only by the Supreme Court, and for the district courts within a circuit, only by the court of appeals for that circuit [in the absence of Supreme Court authority]. In re Korean Air Lines Disaster, 829 F.2d at 1176 (holding that the law of a transferor forum on a federal question ... does not have stare decisis effect in a transferee forum situated in another circuit). Accord Eckstein v. Balcor Film Investors, 8 F.3d 1121, 1126 (7th Cir.1993) (after a transfer of a federal claim under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1404(a), transferee court normally should use its own judgment about the meaning of federal law), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 883, 127 L.Ed.2d 78 (1994). We therefore hold that, when reviewing federal claims, a transferee court in this circuit is bound only by our circuit's precedent. Accordingly, we will apply our law to interpret the Lanham Act claim. 14