Exxon Company, U.S.A., a Division of Exxon Corporation, Cross-Appellant v. Banque De Paris Et Des Pays-Bas, Cross-Appellee

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:

On remand, the Supreme Court of the United States has directed us to consider Kerr Construction Co. v. Plains National Bank 1 and, taking that decision into account, to reconsider our prior opinion. 2 Because these cases raise an important issue of Texas state law left unsettled by Kerr, a case which may or may not control the outcome of Exxon, we, as a court exercising diversity jurisdiction, have decided to certify the decisive question in this case to the Supreme Court of Texas.

I

In Exxon, we held that a bank’s obligations under a letter of credit issued in…