Erie Is The Outcome Test Cliche
This trap appears as a wrong-answer choice in 1 active question. Spotting how it is built is the repair: read each example's “why it's attractive” before the “why it's wrong.”
Subject distribution
- Civil Procedure1
Example wrong choices
18890_hanna_erie_threshold · CIVIL_PROCEDURE · Choice BNothing; outcome effect is the complete Erie test in every case.
Why it's attractive
The word 'every' is the visible overclaim marker. Under Hanna, the outcome-determinative test runs only if no valid federal directive directly controls. The 'Erie is the outcome test in every case' framing loses to the Hanna counterexample. Dominant trap.
Why it's wrong
The word 'every' is the visible overclaim marker. Under Hanna, the outcome-determinative test runs only if no valid federal directive directly controls. The 'Erie is the outcome test in every case' framing loses to the Hanna counterexample. Dominant trap.
18890_hanna_erie_threshold · CIVIL_PROCEDURE · Choice CIt is wrong because state law always applies in diversity.
Why it's attractive
The word 'always' is the visible overclaim marker. Erie holds that federal courts in diversity apply state substantive law, but federal procedural law — including valid Federal Rules — also applies when directly on point. The state-only cliche cannot displace a valid federal directive directly on point.
Why it's wrong
The word 'always' is the visible overclaim marker. Erie holds that federal courts in diversity apply state substantive law, but federal procedural law — including valid Federal Rules — also applies when directly on point. The state-only cliche cannot displace a valid federal directive directly on point.
18890_hanna_erie_threshold · CIVIL_PROCEDURE · Choice DIt is wrong because federal law always applies in diversity.
Why it's attractive
The word 'always' is the visible overclaim marker. Erie holds that state substantive law applies in diversity; federal law applies only to the extent a valid federal directive directly controls the issue, or to the extent a federal procedural rule is valid under the Rules Enabling Act. The 'federal law always applies' framing cannot replace the Erie substantive-law rule.
Why it's wrong
The word 'always' is the visible overclaim marker. Erie holds that state substantive law applies in diversity; federal law applies only to the extent a valid federal directive directly controls the issue, or to the extent a federal procedural rule is valid under the Rules Enabling Act. The 'federal law always applies' framing cannot replace the Erie substantive-law rule.
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