Certifying Questions To State Supreme Courts – Lessons From Lindenberg

In our  prior post, we noted that the Sixth Circuit seldom grants motions to certify questions of state law.  And even though the circuit grants less than 20% of such motions, the questions still have to be accepted by the state supreme court.  But the certification process is often a rough road.

No recent case better exemplifies those difficulties than Lindenberg v. Jackson Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 912 F.3d 348 (6th Cir. 2018), which held that Tennessee's statutory cap on punitive damages violates the state constitution.  The district court had actually granted certification on that question but the Tennessee Supreme Court (after a seven month delay) declined to take the issue because certain factual questions had not been resolved.  The state court suggested instead that certification might be appropriate once the case was on appeal.  And, in fact, the State of Tennessee later intervened in the appeal and suggested, in a footnote, that the issue should be