Resident Fellow Ted Frank

In Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, the U.S. Supreme Court held that due process prohibits a state from imposing its law extraterritorially upon transactions with no connection to the state.[1] A 2003 decision in Oklahoma, however, does just that, creating fifty state classes under choice-of-law principles, even though the Oklahoma legislature would be forbidden from doing so.[2] A recent unreported Oklahoma case, Grider v. Compaq Computer Corp., applies Texas consumer law on a nationwide basis--even as the Texas Supreme Court has held that such law is inapplicable outside of Texas.[3] Grider's class certification raises troubling questions of due process, the Full Faith and Credit Clause, and public policy. . . .

Click here to view the full text of this article as an Adobe Acrobat PDF.

Notes

1. 472 U.S. 797 (1985).
2. Ysbrand v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 81 P.3d 618 (Okla. 2003).
3. Unreported decision from Oklahoma, cert. denied, 128 S.Ct. 378
(2007).