Conflicts of Laws

Catalog description

A newspaper published in State A claims that a politician from State B is corrupt. In State A, an allegation of corruption is an expression of opinion, and not actionable as defamation. In State B, the same allegation is treated as an expression of fact, and actionable as defamation. How does a lawyer for the politician persuade a court to apply the law of State B? And in what court should the lawyer proceed? Can the lawyer proceed in federal court, and if so, should the lawyer proceed in federal court? These questions - issues of choice of law and judicial jurisdiction - are central to the course on Conflict of Laws. Suppose, further, that the politician's lawyer obtains a judgment against the newspaper in a court of State B. If the newspaper has no assets in State B, how can the politician collect on the judgment? Where should the lawyer proceed, and what defenses can the newspaper raise. Conflict of Laws also deals with these issues about enforcement of judgments. Litigators constantly deal with Conflict of Laws problems, but Conflicts is also an important course for transactional lawyers because, increasingly, contracts include choice-of-law and choice-of-forum clauses, and transactional lawyers need to understand the implications of those clauses.