Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Randy Tarum, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Robert L. Lindsay, et al. v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 22-35542 · judgment October 26, 2023
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Questions presented
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Should cooperative federalism, comity, efficient federal practice, and the divergent decisions in the Circuits prompt the Court in the wake of Lehman Bros. v. Schein, 416 U.S. 386 (1974) to clarify and update the procedure for certifying questions of state law in diversity actions so that it is a predictable, if not mandated, process when the question is one of “first impression,” significantly affecting the welfare of citizens in the state, and determinative of the cause of action in the federal forum?
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Were petitioners denied a fair hearing in this diversity action when after acknowledging that a state-law insurance issue is one of “first impression” in Montana, the Panel refused to certify the question to the state’s highest court, relegating petitioners to an inappropriate “Erie guess” in an unpublished memorandum?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Lonnie J. Dale
Milodragovich, Dale, Steinbrenner, P.C.
For respondent
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Case
Subject area
Judicial Power (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Order
Order list, May 13, 2024 · Certiorari denied
Proceedings
- May 13 2024Petition DENIED.
- Apr 17 2024DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/9/2024.
- Mar 25 2024Supplemental brief of petitioners Randy Tarum, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Robert L. Lindsay, et al. filed.
- Mar 04 2024Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 5, 2024)