''Clay v. Sun Insurance Office, Ltd.'', 363 U.S. 207 (1960) and 377 U.S. 179 (1964), was a

conflict of laws Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad ...

case that was twice heard by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

, with an initial decision remanding the case for further proceedings in 1960, and a final resolution in 1964.

Facts

Plaintiff, while living in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

, bought an insurance policy from a company headquartered in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The policy included a clause requiring that insured's seeking to sue on an insurance claim must do so within twelve months. The plaintiff later moved to Florida, which has five year

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In m ...

for lawsuits brought on contracts. The plaintiff suffered a loss in Florida, and sued in Florida to recover under the policy. The District Court applied Florida law and allowed recovery. The

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * M ...

reversed, citing '' Home Insurance Co. v. Dick''.

1960 Supreme Court decision

The case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which first considered it in 1960, noting that the circuit court of appeals could not "make a competent guess" about how the Florida courts would construe an insurance statute. The court observed that the Florida legislature had passed a statute allowing the federal courts to certify questions of state law to the Florida Supreme Court, but that the Florida courts had not yet made a rule establishing procedures under the statute. After this decision, various states began to adopt statutes or rules allowing for the certification of questions of state law to state courts.Wendy L. Watson, McKinzie Craig, and Daniel Orion Davis
Federal Court Certification of State Law Questions
/ref> The Supreme Court remanded ''Clay'' to the Fifth Circuit for reconsideration in an opinion drawing dissents from Justices Black and Douglass. After further litigation before the Court of Appeals, the case was again appealed to the Supreme Court in 1964, this time obtaining a final resolution.

1964 Supreme Court decision

On appeal in 1964, the Supreme Court considered whether the contacts between the defendant insurance company and the forum state of Florida were sufficient to avoid a violation of Fourteenth Amendment

due process Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pe ...

or of the

Full Faith and Credit Clause Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, the Full Faith and Credit Clause, addresses the duty that states within the United States have to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state." Acc ...

. Justice Douglas, writing for the unanimous court, found that ''Home Insurance Co. v. Dick'' was distinguishable based on the absence of contacts between the claimant in that case and the state in which the lawsuit was brought. However, because insurance contracts are transitory, insurers must expect policy holders to move to other states, and for the policies to be subject to the laws of those states. The insurer in Clay's case did business throughout the United States, and had no particular affinity for the laws of Illinois, while Clay had ample contacts with Florida sufficient to satisfy Fourteenth Amendment due process or Full Faith and Credit.

References

{{reflist United States Supreme Court cases of the Warren Court 1960 in United States case law 1964 in United States case law United States conflict of laws case law United States Supreme Court cases