United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

King v. Order of United Commercial Travelers, 333 U.S. 153 (1948)

King v. Order of United Commercial Travelers of America

No. 171

Argued December 10-11, 1947

Decided March 8, 1948

333 U.S. 153

Syllabus

Under the Rules of Decision Act (§ 34 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, R.S. § 721, 28 U.S.C. § 725), as applied in Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U. S. 64, a federal court, in a diversity of citizenship case arising in South Carolina and turning on a question of state law on which there has been no decision by the highest court of the State, need not follow a decision on the question by a South Carolina county court of common pleas, whose decisions are not reported, and, under state practice, are binding only on the parties to the particular case, and do not constitute precedents in any other case in that court or in any other court of the State. Pp. 333 U. S. 153-162.

161 F.2d 10 affirmed.

In a diversity of citizenship case, a federal district court awarded a judgment against an insurer to the beneficiary of a life insurance policy. 65 F.Supp. 740. The Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. 161 F.2d 108. This Court granted certiorari. 332 U.S. 754. Affirmed, p. 333 U. S. 162.