Nick C. Spanos v. Skouras Theatres Corporation, Theatre & Cinema, Inc., Philhamboro, Inc., Youngstown Theatre Corporation and Modern Playhouses, Inc.

The compulsion felt by my brothers to apply the New York Court of Appeals’ Spivak decision to reach what seems a palpably unjust result reminds me of Chief Justice Erie’s observation as to the occasional predilection of the best of judges for “a strong decision,” to wit, one “opposed to common-sense and to common convenience.” 1 I do not believe a federal court is so hamstrung by New York’s parochialism as my brothers think it to be; one of the very purposes of federal jurisdiction is to protect against state policies that fail to recognize the extent to which the many have become one.…