Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Jackson Wells, as Personal Representative for the Estate of Thomas E. Wells, Deceased, et al. v. BNSF Railway Company, a Delaware corporation
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 24-4802 · judgment February 24, 2026
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
Whether the cooperative judicial federalism inaugurated by Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 (1938), and articulated by Lehman Brothers v. Schein, 416 U.S. 386 (1974), requires a federal court sitting in diversity to certify a dispositive question of tort law to the state’s highest court when the state court has expressly reserved that question and the question is of manifest importance to the state?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Kevin Philip Parker
Lanier Law Firm
For respondent
Dale Michael Schowengerdt
Landmark Law, PLLC
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, October 5, 2026 · Certiorari denied
Proceedings
- Oct 05 2026Petition DENIED.
- Jul 29 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2026.
- Jul 22 2026Waiver of right of respondent BNSF Railway Company to respond filed.
- Jul 06 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 12, 2026)