McCarthy v. Olin Corp.

/

This case is less about bullets than about federal/state relations. It raises important questions of when it is appropriate for this court to certify issues of New York law to the New York Court of Appeals. I believe that federal courts in general, and this circuit in particular, have tended to be far too reluctant to certify questions to the state courts. See, e.g., Martin Flumenbaum & Brad S. Karp, Certification of Unsettled Law Issues, N.Y.L.J., Jan. 29, 1992, at 3 (noting that the procedure for certification to the New York Court of Appeals “has been used only sparingly by the Second…