View source for Guaranty Trust Co. v. York

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{no footnotes|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox SCOTUS case
|Litigants=Guaranty Trust Co. v. York
|ArgueDateA=January 3
|ArgueDateB=4
|ArgueYear=1945
|DecideDate=June 18
|DecideYear=1945
|FullName=Guaranty Trust Co. v. York
|USVol=326
|USPage=99
|ParallelCitations=65 S. Ct. 1464; 89 [[L. Ed.]] 2079; 1945 [[U.S. LEXIS]] 2665; 160 [[A.L.R.]] 1231
|Prior=''Certiorari'' to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]]
|Subsequent=
|Holding=The state statute of limitations applies if it substantially affects the outcome of the case.
|Majority=Frankfurter
|JoinMajority=Stone, Black, Reed, Jackson
|Dissent=Rutledge
|JoinDissent=Murphy
|NotParticipating=Roberts and Douglas
|LawsApplied=
}}
'''''Guaranty Trust Co. v. York''''', 326 U.S. 99 (1945), was a [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] case that described how federal courts were to follow [[U.S. state|state]] law. Justice Frankfurter delivered the majority opinion further refining the doctrine set forth in ''[[Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins]]''.
==Background==
The Erie Doctrine, adopted in 1938, held that while Federal law was determinative in procedural matters, state law should control for substantive matters, thus preventing 'forum shopping' between state and Federal courts.  The defendant in ''Guaranty Trust'' argued that the plaintiff's action was time-barred under a [[New York (state)|New York]] [[statute of limitations]].  The plaintiff countered that the relevant statute of limitations was "procedural," was not "substantive" law, and therefore was not within the ambit of the doctrine established in the Erie case.
==Decision of the Court==
The Court dispensed with this substantive/procedural distinction and stated that regardless of whether the case was argued in state or federal court, the outcome should be substantially the same.  Thus, the Court set forth an "outcome determinative test" for deciding whether a piece of state law must be obeyed in federal courts&mdash;if the outcome is substantively the same then the federal court can apply its own rules instead of state rules.  The Court held in this case that the New York Statute of limitations be obeyed and the case was reversed and remanded.
This rule was refined first in ''[[Byrd v. Blue Ridge Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc.]]'' and subsequently defined more specifically in a related series of cases over the next few decades.
==See also==
* [[Erie Doctrine]]
* [[List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 326]]
==External links==
* {{wikisource-inline|Guaranty Trust Company v. York}}
* {{caselaw source
| case = ''Guaranty Trust Co. v. York'', {{ussc|326|99|1945|el=no}}
| cornell =https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/326/99
| courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/104182/guaranty-trust-co-of-new-york-v-york/
| findlaw = https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/326/99.html
| googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3422988760258038747
| justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/326/99/case.html
| loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep326/usrep326099/usrep326099.pdf
}}
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases]]
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases of the Stone Court]]
[[Category:United States conflict of laws case law]]
[[Category:Diversity jurisdiction case law]]
[[Category:United States Erie Doctrine]]
[[Category:1945 in United States case law]]
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