Woodward Governor Co. v. Curtiss-Wright Flight Systems, Inc.

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• noting that far-removed subcontracts between private parties do not implicate uniquely federal interests
• describing 18 limited circumstances in which federal common law applies, otherwise state law governs
• “[A]n actual, significant conflict between a federal interest and state law must be specifically shown, and not generally alleged.” (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)
• “[I]n disputes between two private parties, federal courts ... have shown a marked reluctance to displace state law by finding a significant conflict with a federal interest.”
• “[A] plaintiff seeking to apply federal common law where the United States is not even a party faces a substantial burden in trying to demonstrate an actual, significant conflict between state law and a federal interest”
• “It is beyond dispute that if federal common law governs a case, that case presents a federal question within the subject matter jurisdiction of the federal courts, just as if the case were governed by a federal statute.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).