Lelia Hackler, Gotha Hackler v. Indianapolis & Southeastern Trailways, Inc., and James Wallace

McCREE, Circuit Judge.

This appeal presents the question whether a federal court to which a cause has been removed because of diversity of citizenship should apply the doctrine of collateral estoppel by judgment when that principle would not have been employed by the state court in which the action was commenced. We hold that the District Court correctly decided that it should not.

The case arose out of a bus accident on July 11, 1965, in Laurel County, Kentucky. Appellants, who were passengers in the bus, brought an action for damages against the bus company and its driver in the Laurel…