Opinion ID: 795405
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Standards for Ascertaining State Law & Certification

Text: 29 In the absence of authoritative law from the state's highest court, we must either (1) predict how the New York Court of Appeals would resolve the state law question, or, if state law is so uncertain that we can make no reasonable prediction, (2) certify the question to the New York Court of Appeals for a definitive resolution. DiBella v. Hopkins, 403 F.3d 102, 111 (2d Cir.2005). In attempting to ascertain how the New York Court of Appeals would rule, we give due regard to the rulings of other state courts. Pinto v. Allstate Ins. Co., 221 F.3d 394, 402 (2d Cir.2000); see Comm'r v. Estate of Bosch, 387 U.S. 456, 465, 87 S.Ct. 1776, 18 L.Ed.2d 886 (1967) (stating that, although not authoritative, the judgment of an intermediate appellate state court is a datum for ascertaining state law which is not to be disregarded by a federal court unless it is convinced by other persuasive data that the highest court of the state would decide otherwise) (quoting West v. Am. Tel. & Tel., Co., 311 U.S. 223, 237, 61 S.Ct. 179, 85 L.Ed. 139 (1940) (emphasis omitted)). 30 We may, in our discretion, certify a question to the New York Court of Appeals where there is an unsettled and significant question of state law that will control the outcome of a case pending before this Court. 2d Cir. R. § 0.27; see also McGrath v. Toys R Us, Inc., 356 F.3d 246, 249 (2d Cir.2004). Certification is not to be used routinely, see Elliott Assocs., L.P. v. Banco de la Nacion, 194 F.3d 363, 370 (2d Cir.1999), but only in those cases where there is a split of authority on the issue, where [a] statute's plain language does not indicate the answer, or when presented with a complex question of New York common law for which no New York authority can be found. McCarthy v. Olin Corp., 119 F.3d 148, 153 (2d Cir.1997) (quoting Riordan v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 977 F.2d 47, 51 (2d Cir.1992) (alteration in original)). With these standards in mind, we turn to our examination of New York law.