Merits Preference Overclaim
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
18669_mary_negligence_survival · CIVIL_PROCEDURE · Choice AAlways continue the claim because federal courts prefer merits decisions.
Why it's attractive
The student reaches for the merits-preference intuition: federal courts like to decide cases on the merits. The Gold Key rejects the intuition: Erie requires application of state substantive law, and the forum state's no-survival rule means the claim does not exist to be decided on the merits.
Why it's wrong
The student reaches for the merits-preference intuition: federal courts like to decide cases on the merits. The Gold Key rejects the intuition: Erie requires application of state substantive law, and the forum state's no-survival rule means the claim does not exist to be decided on the merits.
18669_mary_negligence_survival · CIVIL_PROCEDURE · Choice BUse the defendant's home-state survival rule automatically.
Why it's attractive
The student imports a defendant-residence rule. The breaker: Klaxon requires the federal court to apply the forum state's choice-of-law rules, not the defendant's home-state rule automatically.
Why it's wrong
The student imports a defendant-residence rule. The breaker: Klaxon requires the federal court to apply the forum state's choice-of-law rules, not the defendant's home-state rule automatically.
18669_mary_negligence_survival · CIVIL_PROCEDURE · Choice DDismiss only if diversity is destroyed by the death.
Why it's attractive
The student confuses the survival question with a diversity-jurisdiction question. The breaker: the Erie analysis turns on the substantive survival of the claim, not on whether diversity is preserved.
Why it's wrong
The student confuses the survival question with a diversity-jurisdiction question. The breaker: the Erie analysis turns on the substantive survival of the claim, not on whether diversity is preserved.
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