Hughes v. Fetter
United States Supreme Court
341 U.S. 609 (1951)
Harold Hughes, a Wisconsin resident, died in an Illinois car accident allegedly caused by fellow Wisconsin resident Fetter (defendant); Hughes's estate administrator (plaintiff) sued in Wisconsin under Illinois's wrongful-death statute against Fetter and a Wisconsin insurer (defendant). The Wisconsin court granted summary judgment for the defendants, holding that Wisconsin public policy, derived from its own wrongful-death statute limiting recovery to deaths occurring in Wisconsin, prohibited Wisconsin courts from hearing other states' wrongful-death claims; the Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed, and the administrator sought certiorari, arguing a Full Faith and Credit Clause violation.
Whether, where an injury occurs outside of the forum state but all parties are connected to the forum state and the forum state provides a cause of action similar to the foreign action sued upon, the forum state may prevent its courts from hearing the foreign cause of action on public policy grounds.