## Facts

- Ray and Marilyn Perkins were Iowa residents.
- Ray Perkins, a City of Des Moines employee, fractured his right leg on January 5, 1982 while attempting to mount a model 631 Bob Cat skid-steer loader.
- The City of Des Moines paid medical expenses and workers’ compensation disability benefits.
- The loader was designed, manufactured, and assembled by Clark Equipment Company at its Fargo, North Dakota facility.
- The loader was sold and delivered to a third party in Des Moines and later resold to the City of Des Moines.
- Modifications were made to the loader while it was with the third-party purchaser in Iowa; Clark contended those modifications caused the accident.
- The Perkinses filed a products-liability action in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota on December 13, 1984, more than two years after the injury.

## Issues

1. Under North Dakota choice-of-law rules, does Iowa’s two-year statute of limitations, rather than North Dakota’s six-year statute, govern this products-liability/personal-injury action filed in North Dakota federal court?
2. Did the district court abuse its discretion by declining to certify the choice-of-law question to the North Dakota Supreme Court?

## Decision

- The Eighth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Clark.
- Applying North Dakota’s significant-contacts approach, the court concluded Iowa had the most substantial relationship to the occurrence and the parties (Iowa residency, Iowa injury, Iowa use and resale, Iowa modifications, Iowa employment and compensation).
- Iowa’s two-year statute of limitations applied and barred the action because the suit was filed more than two years after the January 5, 1982 accident.
- The court affirmed the denial of the post-judgment motion to certify, finding no abuse of discretion.

## Legal Principles

- In diversity cases, the forum state’s choice-of-law rules govern.
- North Dakota applies a significant-contacts (most significant relationship) approach to select the governing law.
- When applying state law in diversity and the state’s highest court has not resolved the issue, appellate review gives substantial deference to the district court’s reasoned interpretation.
- Certification to a state supreme court is discretionary; denial is reviewed for abuse of discretion.

## Conclusion

Because Iowa was the center of the injury, parties, and product use, North Dakota choice-of-law analysis required applying Iowa law, including its two-year limitations period, making the Perkinses’ claims untimely; the district court also acted within its discretion in refusing to certify the question.


Perkins v. Clark Equip. Co., 823 F.2d 207 (8th Cir. 1987)