Bradford Electric Light Co. v. Clapper
United States Supreme Court
286 U.S. 145 (1932)
Clapper, a Vermont resident, worked for Vermont-based Bradford Electric Light (defendant) and was electrocuted while working on a power line in New Hampshire. His estate (plaintiff) sued Bradford in New Hampshire, which allowed employees to choose between workers' compensation and a tort suit; Vermont law, by contrast, made workers' compensation the exclusive remedy for its own employers and employees, even for out-of-state injuries, absent a prior agreement otherwise (and none existed here). The New Hampshire court applied its own law and let the tort case proceed to a jury verdict for Clapper's estate; Bradford sought Supreme Court review, arguing New Hampshire had to recognize Vermont's exclusivity rule as a defense.
Whether the Full Faith and Credit Clause requires a forum state to recognize another state's law as a defense when both parties are based in that other state and applying that law would not offend the forum state's public policy.