| Venue: | SCOTUS |
| Facts: | Car crash between citizens of different states. Injuries (and maybe a death? hard to say). |
| Posture: | Appeal from dismissal. Reversed? |
| Issue: | In a diversity case, does service have to be under Rule 4, or can we use the state procedure? |
| Holding: | Rule 4. Reversed. |
| Rule: | If a federal rule of procedure is both constitutional and within the scope of the Rules Enabling Act, it sets the standard that federal courts should follow. |
| Reasoning: | If there's no conflict with state procedure, then there's no problem. But if there is, Erie recognizes the authority of federal procedure. Outcome-determination is not a talisman. State rules can prevail sometimes, but that's when the federal rules don't cover a given situatin. |
| Dicta: | Harlan, concurring: Erie recognized that there should not be two conflicting systems of laws. This takes us too far back away from Erie. |