Conflict of Laws in the US: How the Fate of Your Case Can Rest on Which State’s Laws Apply
Sali A. Rakower, a partner and general counsel at Rakower Law PLLC, provides an introduction to the analysis of conflict of laws by courts in the United States. She offers examples of multi-jurisdictional disputes that may successfully be brought in the US, as well as suggestions for how a contract can be drafted to choose New York as the forum for the resolution of disputes arising out of the agreement.
In this insightfully interesting interview, conflicts of law is defined in a very understandable manner, referring to situations in which multiple jurisdictions are involved.
“For instance, if you have a German national and he is suing a Russian corporation in New York State, the court in New York is going to have to determine which state’s laws apply. Will it be Germany’s law? Will it be Russia’s law or will it be New York law? And the determination of which law should properly be applied to the dispute and question is at the heart of what conflicts of law is.” (1:19)
Rakower goes on to provide examples to help to describe how courts in the US determine which state’s laws apply when there is a dispute that involves more than one jurisdiction. In terms of whether a court in the US has the power to decide to apply another jurisdiction’s law to the specific case at issue if it is determined that such other jurisdiction’s law governs, Rakower very clearly details that, in New York, for example, there is a specific code known as the Civil Procedural Rules and Regulations for New York State.
“There is a provision which allows the New York courts very substantial flexibility in taking judicial notice of a foreign law and ascertaining its content. … For example, if a party requests that a New York court takes judicial notice of a foreign law, it is required to do so as long as the moving party gives it sufficient information to ascertain what the foreign law would state on a given issue. And it does have the power to determine what that foreign law would say on a given issue.” (9:20)
Other considerations include what the law of a foreign jurisdiction would require in a given case, an example of a case successfully brought by a foreign individual or corporation in a court in the US that involved conflict of laws, whether New York is receptive to business disputes involving foreign litigants, and what happens if parties choose New York law to govern their contract where conflict of laws principles would dictate that another state’s laws should govern.
Rakower Law PLLC
