Woods v. Smith

OPINION

ARNOW, District Judge.

Limned by this controversy is the quandary in which federal judges from time to time find themselves because of diversity jurisdiction. A Florida feder-. al judge, with scant knowledge of Oklahoma law, must endeavor to decide the question presented as the courts of Oklahoma would decide it, without benefit of authoritative precedent from those courts.

The question presented is whether failure of a plaintiff to fasten and use a seat belt in an automobile, to which he had access, may be presented at the trial as contributory negligence barring recovery, or in…