Ferens v. John Deere Co.

Background

Albert Ferens, a Pennsylvania farmer who lost his right hand in an accident with a combine, sued the manufacturer, Deere & Company. After Pennsylvania’s short two-year limit for tort suits expired, the Ferenses filed a warranty case in Pennsylvania and a separate tort case in Mississippi where a longer six-year limit applied. They then asked the Mississippi federal court to transfer the tort case to Pennsylvania under Section 1404(a) as a more convenient forum; the transfer was granted and the Pennsylvania court dismissed the tort claim under Pennsylvania’s two-year rule.

Reasoning

The key question was whether a transfer for convenience changes which State’s choice-of-law rules apply when the transfer is requested by a plaintiff. The Court extended its earlier rule from Van Dusen and said the transferee court must apply the same choice-of-law rules that governed in the original court, no matter who asked for the transfer. The opinion relied on the goal that federal diversity litigation should not change state-law advantages, should avoid creating new opportunities for forum shopping, and should keep transfer decisions focused on convenience rather than on changing the law.

Real world impact

The ruling means federal courts across the country must honor the transferor forum’s conflict-of-law rules after a Section 1404(a) move. Plaintiffs cannot combine filing in one forum and then use a transfer to obtain a different State’s substantive law; defendants and courts will expect the original forum’s choice-of-law rules to follow the case.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Scalia dissented, arguing that applying the transferor law here undermines uniformity and may encourage filing-and-transfer tactics, and he preferred applying the law of the court where the case is actually tried.