Opinion ID: 790167
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Choice of Law and Real Party in Interest

Text: A. Standard of Review 29 Our review of the district court's dismissal of the action for lack of standing is de novo. Kaliski v. Bacot ( In re Bank of New York Derivative Litigation ), 320 F.3d 291, 297 (2d Cir.2003). Our review is also de novo with respect to the district court's determination of which state's law governs this action, and with respect to its interpretation and application of the relevant state law. White v. ABCO Engineering Corp., 221 F.3d 293, 300 (2d Cir.2000); Bank of New York v. Amoco Oil Co., 35 F.3d 643, 650 (2d Cir.1994) ( citing Salve Regina College v. Russell, 499 U.S. 225, 231, 111 S.Ct. 1217, 113 L.Ed.2d 190 (1991)). 30 Regarding the district court's decision not to allow the ratification by or joinder of the Saybolt entities pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 17(a), this circuit appears never to have stated the proper standard of review for a district court's application of the curative procedures set forth in that rule. But see Advanced Magnetics, Inc. v. Bayfront Partners, Inc., 106 F.3d 11, 20 (2d Cir.1997) (A Rule 17(a) substitution of plaintiffs should be liberally allowed when the change is merely formal ....); id. ([T]he district court retains some discretion to dismiss an action where there was no semblance of any reasonable basis for the naming of an incorrect party....). Other circuits that have addressed the question have uniformly held that abuse of discretion is the proper standard of review. See Esposito v. United States, 368 F.3d 1271, 1273 (10th Cir.2004); Wieburg v. GTE Southwest Inc., 272 F.3d 302, 308-09 (5th Cir.2001); ICON Group, Inc. v. Mahogany Run Development Corp., 829 F.2d 473, 476 (3d Cir.1987). Today we join these circuits in holding that a district court's decision whether to dismiss pursuant to Rule 17(a) is reviewed for abuse of discretion. 31 B. The Choice of Law Issue is Dispositive of This Action 32 As a threshold matter, Stichting puts forth three reasons why the choice of law issue need not be resolved in order for this court to conclude that the district court erred in dismissing Stichting's claims for lack of standing. First, Stichting argues that the district court's consideration of the defendants' motion on this ground was barred either by judicial estoppel, law of the case, or waiver. Second, Stichting claims that the district court erred in concluding that New Jersey law barred assignment of this action. Third, Stichting contends that even assuming that New Jersey law did bar assignment of Saybolt's claims, the district court erred in not allowing Stichting to employ the mechanisms set forth in Fed.R.Civ.P. 17(a) to cure the real party in interest problems. Any one of these arguments, if successful, would be dispositive of this appeal, and the choice of law issue would then not require resolution. We conclude, however, that none of them is meritorious. 33 1. Law of the Case, Estoppel, Admission, and Waiver 34 Stichting gives four reasons why Schreiber and Walter, Conston were barred from arguing, in the motion at issue on this appeal, that the assignment of the claim to Stichting was invalid. First, Stichting states that the validity of Stichting's assignment has been established as law of the case, both by the district court's denial of the first motion to dismiss, and by this court's statement in Stichting I that Saybolt International's former shareholders assigned their legal malpractice causes of action to the plaintiff. Stichting I, 327 F.3d at 178. Second, Stichting argues that Schreiber and Walter, Conston are judicially estopped from contesting the validity of Stichting's assignment because Schreiber and Walter, Conston's initial motion to dismiss had contended that the Saybolt BV shareholders—who themselves had received their interest by assignment —were the real parties in interest. This, Stichting claims, constituted a legal admission by Schreiber and Walter, Conston that assignments of this sort were valid. Third, and relatedly, Stichting asserts that the defendants' statement in their Rule 56.1 filing on the first motion for summary judgment, that Core assigned to the former Saybolt B.V. shareholders all of Core's claims, constituted a judicial admission as to the validity of that assignment. Finally, Stichting contends that defendants waived any right to contest its status as the real party in interest by waiting more than three years to raise the issue. 35 As to the first point, our law of the case doctrine `ordinarily forecloses relitigation of issues expressly or impliedly decided by the appellate court.' Field v. United States, 381 F.3d 109, 114 (2d Cir.2004) ( quoting United States v. Quintieri, 306 F.3d 1217, 1229 (2d Cir.2002)). We also have stated that a district court's discretion to reconsider its own decisions is limited, at least absent an intervening change of law, to circumstances in which new evidence is available, an error must be corrected, or manifest injustice would otherwise ensue. See Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Color Tile, Inc. v. Coopers & Lybrand, LLP, 322 F.3d 147, 167 (2d Cir.2003). 36 The doctrine is, however, simply not applicable here, because neither the district court nor this court was ever squarely presented with the question of whether the assignments of claims—first to the Saybolt BV shareholders, and then to Stichting— were valid as a matter of substantive state law. Stichting I, which mentioned the assignment only in passing, certainly did not decide the issue. See New England Insurance Co. v. Healthcare Underwriters Mutual Insurance Co., 352 F.3d 599, 606 (2d Cir.2003) (observing that the law of the case does not extend to issues an appellate court did not address(internal quotation and citation omitted)). Nor did the district court, which in its decision on the first motion to dismiss treated the issue before it solely as a challenge to the court's diversity jurisdiction, ever rule on whether Stichting, or the Saybolt BV shareholders, were real parties in interest. Indeed, the district court expressly stated that it declined to treat the initial motion to dismiss as raising a Rule 17(a) issue. Therefore, the law of the case presented no barrier to the district court's consideration of the real party in interest issue on remand following Stichting I. 37 As to judicial estoppel, that doctrine applies only in situations where a party both takes a position that is inconsistent with one taken in a prior proceeding, and has had that earlier position adopted by the tribunal to which it was advanced. See Rodal v. Anesthesia Group of Onondaga, P.C., 369 F.3d 113, 118 (2d Cir.2004). Assuming, arguendo, that Schreiber and Walter, Conston advanced, with respect to the validity of the assignments, a position in their first motion to dismiss that was actually inconsistent with that taken on the current motion, it is clear that the earlier position was never adopted by the district court. Therefore, the requirements for invoking the doctrine of judicial estoppel are not present here. 38 Regarding Stichting's judicial admission argument, we have specified that judicial admissions are statements of fact rather than legal arguments made to a court. New York State National Organization for Women v. Terry, 159 F.3d 86, 97 n. 7 (2d Cir.1998). For this reason, the statement in Schreiber's Rule 56.1 statement in support of the motion for summary judgment that was the subject of Stichting I, that Core ... assigned to the former Saybolt B.V. Shareholders all of Core's claims, cannot be taken as a concession that, under applicable law, the assignment was validly made. 39 Finally, as to waiver, Stichting argues essentially that Schreiber and Walter, Conston were not, after more than three years of litigation in which the validity of Stichting's assignment never was questioned, entitled to raise a real party in interest objection. We note that the district court's determination that no waiver had occurred was made pursuant to its broad duties in managing the conduct of cases pending before it, and therefore is reviewed only for abuse of discretion. Hamilton v. Atlas Turner, Inc., 197 F.3d 58, 60 (2d Cir.1999); see also United States v. Ziegler Bolt and Parts Co., 111 F.3d 878, 882-83 (Fed.Cir.1997). While, certainly, the motion disputing the validity of Stichting's assignment was filed late in the course of this litigation, the defenses of no real party in interest and no standing were asserted by both Schreiber and Walter, Conston in their answers to the complaint. Furthermore, the issue was promptly raised in response to the district court's order that, following remand from this court, the parties submit motions on any grounds not previously raised, a procedure to which Stichting did not object. This, in itself, distinguishes this case from the only authorities cited by Stichting in which a real party in interest defense was deemed waived, since in those cases the issue was not raised until trial had commenced. Cf. Richardson v. Edwards, 127 F.3d 97, 99 (D.C.Cir.1997) (deeming real party in interest defense waived when not raised until appellate proceedings); Hefley v. Jones, 687 F.2d 1383, 1386-88 (10th Cir.1982) (deeming real party in interest defense waived when not raised until sixteen days before trial). 40 Moreover, Stichting has pointed to no prejudice that it has suffered as a result of defendants' delay in raising the real party in interest issue as a ground for dismissal. Stichting was able to obtain, from Saybolt NA and Saybolt, Inc., the statement of Certification. And, given that the Certification gave every indication that, even if the companies had been approached earlier, they would not then have consented to be substituted for or joined as plaintiffs with Stichting, Stichting's failure to obtain substitution or joinder of the Saybolt entities is not due to the defendants' delay. Under these circumstances, we do not think that the district court abused its discretion in determining that the defendants' standing and real party in interest objections had not been waived. 2. New Jersey Law of Assignment 41 Stichting next argues that the district court erred in determining that New Jersey law would, if applicable, prohibit the claim assignments. Under New York choice of law rules, which in this diversity action we must apply, see Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Manufacturing Co., 313 U.S. 487, 496-97, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477 (1941); Gilbert v. Seton Hall University, 332 F.3d 105, 109 (2d Cir.2003), a preliminary inquiry in any case presenting a potential choice of law issue is to determine whether there is an actual conflict between the laws of the jurisdictions involved. Matter of Allstate Insurance Co., 81 N.Y.2d 219, 223, 597 N.Y.S.2d 904, 613 N.E.2d 936 (1993). Since it is conceded that under New York law the assignments would be valid, 5 Stichting's position on New Jersey law would, if correct, obviate the need for further choice of law inquiry. 42 Although the issue is not pellucid, we conclude that, were we to decide the case under New Jersey law, the assignment of the legal malpractice claim to Stichting would be barred. There is no decision of the Supreme Court of New Jersey that squarely addresses the assignability of professional malpractice claims. There seems, however, to be a long-standing consensus among New Jersey state courts that, for reasons of public policy, tort claims generally are not assignable. See, e.g., East Orange Lumber Co. v. Christian Feiganspan, 120 N.J.L. 410, 412, 199 A. 778 (N.J.Sup.Ct.1938) (holding that common law rule of non-assignability applied in New Jersey), aff'd, 124 N.J.L. 127, 10 A.2d 732 (1940); Village of Ridgewood v. Shell Oil Co., 289 N.J.Super. 181, 195, 673 A.2d 300 (N.J.Super.Ct.App.Div.1996) (stating that in New Jersey [a] tort claim cannot be assigned prior to judgment and applying the principle in personal injury, trespass, and nuisance context); Costanzo v. Costanzo, 248 N.J.Super. 116, 122, 590 A.2d 268, 271 (1991) (applying the principle in personal injury context); see also Integrated Solutions, Inc. v. Service Support Specialties, Inc., 124 F.3d 487, 490 (3d Cir.1997) (holding that New Jersey law prohibits prejudgment assignment of tort claims, including intentional torts). Moreover, it appears clear that, under New Jersey law, legal malpractice claims sound in tort. See Grunwald v. Bronkesh, 131 N.J. 483, 492, 621 A.2d 459 (1993). Taking these two principles together, New Jersey federal district courts have on two occasions concluded that the general ban on assignment of tort claims in New Jersey renders professional malpractice claims unassignable under New Jersey Law. See Alcman Services Corp. v. Samuel H. Bullock, P.C., 925 F.Supp. 252, 257-58 (D.N.J. 1996); Conopco, Inc. v. McCreadie, 826 F.Supp. 855, 866-67 (D.N.J.1993). 43 Stichting urges this court to rely upon Kimball International, Inc. v. Northfield Metal Products, 334 N.J.Super. 596, 760 A.2d 794 (N.J.Super.Ct.App.Div.2000), for the proposition that the New Jersey bar on assignment of tort claims extends only to personal injury actions. The question of the scope of New Jersey's bar on assignments was not, however, squarely before the court in Kimball, which concluded on the facts before it that the assigned claim at issue was contractual, rather than tortious, in nature—and was therefore clearly assignable under New Jersey law. Id. at 612-13, 760 A.2d 794. The Kimball court did state, in dicta, that recent cases have indicated that the non-assignability rule applies only to tort claims for personal injuries, and that such a limitation on non-assignability is consistent with the law of other jurisdictions. Id. at 613 n. 6, 760 A.2d 794. That statement, however, was supported by citation only to intermediate courts of review in New Jersey, and did not cite to, or account for, the much broader statements of prohibition contained in the line of New Jersey cases extending from East Orange Lumber. Under these circumstances, we cannot accept Stichting's invitation to rely upon Kimball as an indicator of the contemporary trend in New Jersey law. 6 We hold that New York law, which allows such assignments, and New Jersey law, which does not, are irremediably different, and therefore that, on this basis, we cannot avoid reaching the choice of law issue. 44 We conclude that, if the issue were before the New Jersey Supreme Court, it would hold that Stichting's legal malpractice claim would not be assignable. 3. The Effect of Fed.R.Civ.P. 17(a) 45 Stichting's final argument against the necessity of this court reaching the choice of law question is that, even if New Jersey law applies to this action and bars assignment of the malpractice claim, the district court erred in not allowing Stichting to rely upon Saybolt NA and Saybolt, Inc.'s ratification of and joinder in the action, in accordance with Fed.R.Civ.P. 17(a). We agree with the district court that the procedures set forth in Rule 17(a) are inapposite in situations where the real party in interest defect is created by lack of compliance with state substantive law, and that application of Rule 17(a) in such circumstances would effect an impermissible enlargement, through the Federal Rules, of state substantive rights. See 28 U.S.C. § 2072(b). 46 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(a) requires that [e]very action shall be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest. The rule goes on to provide, in pertinent part, as follows: No action shall be dismissed on the ground that it is not prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest until a reasonable time has been allowed after objection for ratification of commencement of the action by, or joinder or substitution of, the real party in interest; and such ratification, joinder, or substitution shall have the same effect as if the action had been commenced in the name of the real party in interest. 47 Fed.R.Civ.P. 17(a). 48 The requirements of Rule 17(a) show the difficulties, in diversity cases, that flow from the interaction between state substantive requirements and federal procedural requirements. See generally Hanna v. Plumer, 380 U.S. 460, 472-74, 85 S.Ct. 1136, 14 L.Ed.2d 8 (1965) (holding that the Federal Rules must supersede a conflicting state rule that is implicated by the court's diversity jurisdiction); id. at 476, 85 S.Ct. 1136 (Harlan, J., concurring) (noting that the majority approach requires application of the Federal Rules where the state rule is arguably procedural). Wright and Miller describe the effect of Rule 17(a) as requiring that the action must be brought by the person who, according to the governing substantive law, is entitled to enforce the right. 6A Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1543 (2d ed. 1990) (Wright & Miller). And we have in prior cases emphasized that, while the question of in whose name a suit must be brought is procedural, that question must be answered with reference to substantive state law. See Ocean Ships, Inc. v. Stiles, 315 F.3d 111, 116 n. 4 (2d Cir.2002) (Because state law `controls the underlying substantive right of an insured to recovery,' `state-law questions may arise in determining what interest [a party] actually has.' ( quoting Brocklesby Transport v. Eastern States Escort Services, 904 F.2d 131, 133 (2d Cir.1990), 7 and Provident Tradesmens Bank & Trust Co. v. Patterson, 390 U.S. 102, 125 n. 22, 88 S.Ct. 733, 19 L.Ed.2d 936 (1968)); Neilson v. Colgate-Palmolive Co., 199 F.3d 642, 650 (2d Cir.1999) (observing that New York law provided source of right for a legal guardian to proceed as the real party in interest in an action to benefit his or her ward); see also Wright & Miller § 1544 ([S]tate law will control in an action based on diversity of citizenship for purposes of ascertaining who possesses the original cause of action or deciding a question relating to assignability.); id. § 1545 ([T]he question whether a party purporting to hold an assigned claim is a real party in interest ultimately rests on the substantive law governing the assignability of the particular chose in action.). 49 We must, therefore, look to applicable state law to determine whether Stichting properly possesses the right of action that it asserts in this case. As has already been stated, there is no dispute that, if New York law governs, the assignments that culminated in Stichting's possession of the claim here asserted would be proper. If, however, New Jersey law governs, the assignments were invalid, and Stichting does not possess a right of action. 50 Furthermore, ratification, which Stichting purported to obtain from Saybolt NA and Saybolt, Inc., cannot cure the defect. The procedural mechanisms set forth in Rule 17(a) for ameliorating real party in interest problems may not, under the Rules Enabling Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2072(b), be employed to expand substantive rights. See Del Re v. Prudential Lines, Inc., 669 F.2d 93, 96-97 (2d Cir. 1982). Nor is this a situation like that presented in Advanced Magnetics where a purported assignment of action was rendered ineffective by a technical defect in the assignment agreement. 106 F.3d at 17-18. In that case, we held that it was an abuse of discretion for the district court not to allow the plaintiff the opportunity to amend the complaint to join the additional parties whose rights of action had not properly been transferred. Id. at 20. Here, however, the asserted defect in the assignment arises as a result of state law that prohibits the transfer of rights now claimed by Stichting. In such a situation, ratification under Rule 17(a) would allow Stichting to accomplish through operation of the Federal Rules precisely what it could not accomplish under New Jersey law. This, the district court properly determined, is not permitted. 51 Stichting argues that even if ratification is not available to it, any real party in interest problem is cured by the joinder of the Saybolt entities as nominal defendants in the second amended complaint. This, however, runs contrary to the plain language of Rule 17(a), which requires that an action be prosecuted by the real party in interest. As the Certification obtained from Saybolt NA and Saybolt, Inc. made clear, Stichting is the only entity with any intention of prosecuting this action, and, under the circumstances here, bringing the Saybolt entities into the action nominally or involuntarily would, like ratification, simply be an end-run around New Jersey's assignment ban. 52 To the extent that the action may be governed by New Jersey law, the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that the procedures set forth in Rule 17(a) could not be utilized to cure Stichting's real party in interest problem. Accordingly, whether New Jersey law or New York law governs the validity of Stichting's assignment is dispositive of whether the action may proceed. 53 C. New York law does not supply a clear answer 54 Having concluded that the choice of law issue posed by this case is in fact determinative, we turn now to an assessment of how the New York Court of Appeals would decide the choice of law question and whether, therefore, New York or New Jersey law governs this action. The fact that we are unable to glean from the current body of New York law a clear answer to that question leads us to certify the issue. 55 As has already been stated, we apply, in diversity cases, the choice of law rules of the forum state, in this case, New York. See Klaxon, 313 U.S. at 496-97, 61 S.Ct. 1020; Gilbert, 332 F.3d at 109. Thus, [o]ur task is to determine what law New York courts would apply in this situation. O'Rourke v. Eastern Air Lines, Inc., 730 F.2d 842, 847 (2d Cir.1984), abrogated on other grounds, Salve Regina College v. Russell, 499 U.S. 225, 230, 111 S.Ct. 1217, 113 L.Ed.2d 190 (1991). 56 New York courts confronted with a choice of law issue in torts conduct an interest analysis, assessing which of the competing jurisdictions has the greatest interest in seeing its law applied to the matter at issue. Padula v. Lilarn Properties Corp., 84 N.Y.2d 519, 521, 620 N.Y.S.2d 310, 644 N.E.2d 1001 (1994). Where the conflict concerns a loss-allocating rule—one that prohibit[s], assign[s], or limit[s] liability after the tort occurs, id. at 522, 620 N.Y.S.2d 310, 644 N.E.2d 1001—rather than a conduct-regulating rule, the interest analysis is conducted with reference to the principles set forth in Neumeier v. Kuehner, 31 N.Y.2d 121, 127-29, 335 N.Y.S.2d 64, 286 N.E.2d 454 (1972). See Cooney v. Osgood Machinery, Inc., 81 N.Y.2d 66, 76, 595 N.Y.S.2d 919, 612 N.E.2d 277 (1993) (applying Neumeier rules in conflict analysis involving law of contribution); Schultz v. Boy Scouts of America, Inc., 65 N.Y.2d 189, 199-202, 491 N.Y.S.2d 90, 480 N.E.2d 679 (1985) (applying Neumeier rules in conflict analysis involving charitable immunity); Elson v. Defren, 283 A.D.2d 109, 115-16, 726 N.Y.S.2d 407 (1st Dep't 2001) (applying Neumeier rules in conflict analysis involving vicarious liability principles). A rule pertaining to the assignability of a tort claim is unquestionably loss-allocating, and therefore we apply the Neumeier framework to determine what law governs the issue. 57 Neumeier sets forth three rules to guide the court's choice of the relevant interests at stake for choice of law analysis. The first applies when the parties share a domicile; the second applies when the parties are domiciled in different states and the law of each state is favorable to its respective litigant; and the third is applicable to all other split-domicile cases. See Neumeier, 31 N.Y.2d at 128, 335 N.Y.S.2d 64, 286 N.E.2d 454. Because in this case Stichting, Schreiber, and Walter, Conston do not share a domicile, and because the laws of relevant domiciles do not favor the respective domiciliaries, the third Neumeier rule applies. 8 Pursuant to that rule, the law of the place of the tort will apply, unless displacing it will advance the relevant substantive law purposes without impairing the smooth working of the multi-state system or producing great uncertainty for litigants. Id. at 128, 335 N.Y.S.2d 64, 286 N.E.2d 454 (internal quotation and citation omitted). 58 Here, while it is true that tortious conduct is alleged to have occurred in multiple places—a factor that will be considered in due course—New Jersey is essentially the locus of Stichting's injury, because most of the allegedly negligent advice was received by Saybolt there, and because Saybolt was prosecuted there. See Schultz, 65 N.Y.2d at 195, 491 N.Y.S.2d 90, 480 N.E.2d 679 (noting that where tortious conduct and injury occur in different jurisdictions, the place where the plaintiff's injuries occur is the relevant locus for choice of law purposes). It is therefore the law of New Jersey that should control, unless it can be shown that application of New York law— the only competing jurisdiction at issue— will advance the relevant substantive law purposes without impairing the smooth working of the multi-state system or producing great uncertainty for litigants. Id. at 201, 491 N.Y.S.2d 90, 480 N.E.2d 679 (internal quotation and citation omitted). 59 The district court in this case concluded that New Jersey law should apply, ruling at oral argument that, while there is some argument for New York law, the overwhelming contacts, relevant contacts under New York choice of law provisions are with New Jersey and there is not a sufficient policy reason for New York to override what would otherwise be the normal operation of its choice of law provision. We disagree with the conclusion of the district court, to the extent that we do not think that it can so clearly be determined that New Jersey's interest in seeing its law applied predominates over New York's interest in the same. 60 It is true, as the district court observed, that New Jersey's contacts with the tortious activity alleged in this action are more numerous, and substantial, than New York's. New Jersey was the site of the principal offices of both Saybolt Inc. and Saybolt NA. It also was the principal place in which Schreiber's advice regarding the Panamanian transaction was either given or received: The November meetings took place in New Jersey, and Dunlop and Mead both were located in their New Jersey offices during at least some of the December telephone conversations with Schreiber concerning the transaction. As for New York, it is the state in which Walter, Conston is registered as a professional corporation and in which its office is located, as well as the only state in which Schreiber is admitted to practice as an attorney. There is also evidence that Schreiber met with Saybolt representatives at the Walter, Conston office on more than one occasion. These New York-based contacts, however, bear a comparatively thin connection to the conduct that is at issue in this action. 61 The question is closer, however, when the substantive legal interests of the two jurisdictions are examined. As to New Jersey's interest in prohibiting assignment of tort claims, an examination of case law addressing the question does not yield a clear statement regarding the nature of the public policy that such assignments violate. Kimball appears to be alone in offering a rationale for the bar, relying upon a Fourth Circuit decision for the proposition that the purpose of the rule was `to prevent unscrupulous strangers to an occurrence from preying on the deprived circumstances of an injured person.' Kimball, 334 N.J.Super. at 611, 760 A.2d 794 (quoting Caldwell v. Ogden Sea Transp., Inc., 618 F.2d 1037, 1048 (4th Cir.1980)). However, early cases addressing the issue imply that the origins of the rule were simply property law doctrines that prohibited the assignment of future interests, see Weller v. Jersey City, H & P St. Ry. Co., 28 N.J.L.J. 659, 662, 68 N.J. Eq. 659, 61 A. 459 (1905) (A right of action for personal injuries cannot be made the subject of assignment before judgment. In the absence of a statutory provision to the contrary, nothing is assignable, either in law or equity, that does not directly or indirectly involve a right to property. (quotation and citation omitted and emphasis added)), combined with a persistent legislative failure to authorize, by statute, the assignment of actions in tort, see East Orange Lumber, 120 N.J.L. at 413, 199 A. 778 (noting that [i]n most states where an action for damages arising in tort are held assignable, there is some statutory provision making the change, and holding that the rule [barring assignment of tort actions] being so firmly embedded in our jurisprudence it will be necessary for the legislature, if it sees fit, to alter the same). 62 These early cases, which are still relied upon by New Jersey courts for the proposition that assignment of tort actions violates the public policies of the state, see, e.g., Village of Ridgewood, 289 N.J.Super. at 195, 673 A.2d 300 (citing East Orange Lumber ); Amato v. Amato, 180 N.J.Super. 210, 217, 434 A.2d 639 (N.J.Super.Ct.App.Div.1981) (citing, inter alia, Weller and East Orange Lumber for the proposition that [t]he nonassignability of a right of action for tortious personal injury, because it is not a property right, is an ancient concept of the common law recognized in this State (emphasis added)), do not point to a strongly held policy interest that New Jersey might have in seeing the assignment bar applied. Moreover, to the extent that the Kimball court's reasoning is an accurate representation of the policy concerns behind the bar, the instant case does not strongly implicate an interest in protecting potentially vulnerable assignors. The assignments in question indisputably occurred as a result of arms-length business transactions, and the assignees—in the case of both the Saybolt shareholders, who first received the claims, and Stichting, which now asserts them—all bear a direct relationship to the injured party. And, as to New Jersey's general interest in having its law apply to litigation arising from injuries suffered within its borders, the New York Court of Appeals has emphasized that where loss allocation rules are concerned, the jurisdiction in which the injury occurs has at best a minimal interest in determining the right of recovery or the extent of the remedy. Schultz, 65 N.Y.2d at 198, 491 N.Y.S.2d 90, 480 N.E.2d 679. 63 As to New York, neither party has pointed us to an overriding policy motivation behind the state's permissive attitude toward the assignment of tort actions in general, and of legal malpractice actions in particular; nor have we located any statement in this regard from the New York courts. It may well be that whatever New York's interest in allowing such assignments, it is not implicated—either positively or negatively—in a case involving claims accruing by injury to a New Jersey-domiciled company, and owned by a Dutch parent. On the other hand, depending upon the strength of New York's interest in its liberal approach to claim assignability, and in light of the presence of a New York corporation as a defendant in this action, New York may have a cognizable interest in seeing this case proceed. 64 Moreover, New York has an additional interest at stake in this action, related to Schreiber and Walter, Conston having registered legal practices within the state. To the extent that New Jersey's bar on the assignment of this action would, in this case, prevent Schreiber and Walter, Conston from being held accountable for their allegedly negligent professional conduct, New York's interest in upholding the integrity of its bar would be compromised. 9 65 New York choice of law cases do not give much guidance with respect to situations where an analysis of the contacts and the interests of the competing jurisdictions suggest conflicting results. It has been said that, [a]ssuming that the interest of each State in enforcement of its law is roughly equal ... the situs of the tort is appropriate as a `tie breaker' because that is the only State with which both parties have purposefully associated themselves in a significant way. Cooney, 81 N.Y.2d at 74, 595 N.Y.S.2d 919, 612 N.E.2d 277. It is not at all clear, however, that this principle, which would counsel in favor of application of New Jersey law, applies in a situation such as that presented here, where the contacts and the interests pertaining to each jurisdiction appear to line up on separate sides of the balance sheet. 66 Additionally, New York courts have given what appears to be conflicting treatment to a factor that arguably is relevant in this case, protection of party expectations. The New York Court of Appeals in Miller v. Miller, 22 N.Y.2d 12, 20, 290 N.Y.S.2d 734, 237 N.E.2d 877 (1968), specifically rejected the suggestion that the choice of applicable law in this tort action should be determined on the basis of the expectations of the parties as derived from their contact with the State of the place of the accident. The Court noted that the notion that parties relied upon the application of one or another state's law to their disputes was an obvious fiction having little to do with laws in conflict. Id. In Cooney, however, the Court of Appeals suggested that, in certain circumstances, protection of the reasonable expectations of the parties might, at times, be an appropriate factor in choice of law analysis. 81 N.Y.2d at 77, 595 N.Y.S.2d 919, 612 N.E.2d 277. In Cooney, the Court noted that this factor supported its decision to apply Missouri law, instead of that of New York, but did so in the course of observing that the defendant had done nothing to affiliate itself with Missouri. Id. Such cannot be said here with respect to the defendants: Schreiber, of course, purposely affiliated with New Jersey, and New Jersey domiciliaries, on a number of occasions, and Walter, Conston, for its part, is alleged to be answerable for that conduct through vicarious liability. 67 The plaintiff, however, may be said to have some reasonable reliance interest, albeit of a different sort, regarding the enforceability of its claim. Stichting received its assignment of claim subsequent to an arms-length business transaction in which a corporate entity sought both finality for itself and satisfaction for its shareholders. There are strong indications that that corporation, a Dutch entity, had every expectation that its assignment of claim would be effective. The same can be said of the Saybolt BV shareholders' assignment of claim to Stichting, also a Dutch entity. It is certainly true that the events giving rise to this action have substantial contacts with the state of New Jersey. But the post -tort posture of the Dutch parent corporation and the Saybolt BV shareholders—which is the point in time when the loss-allocation rule here at issue became relevant—arguably was such that there would be no expectation that New Jersey law prohibiting assignment of claim—as against New York's rule allowing it—would apply to their conduct. Whether Cooney 's reliance on the total absence of contacts with a given jurisdiction indicates a necessary condition for looking to parties' reasonable expectations in a Neumeier analysis, or whether, instead, there are sufficient factors present here to conclude that the extent to which the parties' expectations would be undermined militates against application of New Jersey law to invalidate Stichting's assignment, is a question that we do not find clearly answered by the New York courts. 68 Thus, we believe that, quite apart from the unique factual setting of this case, the issues it raises with respect to application of the third Neumeier choice of law rule are likely to recur in future cases. As a general matter, situations in which analyses of the interests of and contacts with the competing jurisdictions suggest conflicting results, and where deference to the law of the situs of the tort may further none of the interests assessed, would appear to be highly susceptible of repetition. Relatedly, it remains to be clarified under what circumstances and to what extent protection of parties' reasonable expectations plays into choice of law analysis under the third Neumeier rule. 69 Finally, as has already been stated, the dismissal of this action, after nearly five years of litigation, turns upon resolution of these novel and difficult New York choice of law questions. We therefore think that the prudent course is to give the New York Court of Appeals the opportunity to decide whether New Jersey or New York law applies to the question of the validity of Stichting's assignment.