Estate of Aguirre ex rel. Aguirre v. Koruga

ALARCÓN, Circuit Judge, dissenting.

I respectfully dissent.

Prefatory Statement

Under compulsion of the unpublished decision in Estate of Aguirre v. Koruga, 42 Fed.Appx. 73 (9th Cir.2002) (“Aguirre I”), the district court permitted the jury to consider extrinsic evidence, including oral testimony, that prior to his death, Ana Maria Koruga’s father, Tomas B. Aguirre, authorized her to make a gift of $4,185,500 from his bank account. The three-judge panel’s interpretation of Washington law in Aguirre I was clearly erroneous. Thus, we are not bound by the law of the case doctrine in interpreting…