Cates v. Creamer

Insofar as the majority opinion upholds the district court’s grant of a new trial to Cates and, consequently, the verdict of the second trial, I concur. However, I respectfully dissent from the portion of the majority’s opinion that holds that Florida law applies to the issue of vicarious liability-

This case is undisputedly based on diversity jurisdiction, and our responsibility in diversity cases is to determine what the substantive law of the forum state is, not what we think it should be. See Am. Nat’l Gen. Ins. Co. v. Ryan, 274 F.3d 319, 328 (5th Cir.2001); Boardman v. United Servs. Auto.…