Tobin ex rel. Tobin v. Slutsky

FEINBERG, Circuit Judge:

Once again, at a time when the federal courts of appeals have the highest case load in their history,1 we must, because of diversity jurisdiction, devote considerable time to deciding whether a federal district judge correctly determined a difficult question of state law.2 The anomaly is underscored here by an apparent conflict on the precise issue between an opinion of this court and a later, highly-informed commentary by a distinguished group of state judges, discussed below. In the absence of recent definitive state judicial rulings, we feel constrained by our prior…