Wells v. Simonds Abrasive Company

Wells died in a grinding-wheel accident in Alabama, whose two-year wrongful-death limitations period had not yet run; his estate sued the wheel's Pennsylvania manufacturer, Simonds (defendant), in federal court in Pennsylvania, whose own one-year limitations period had already expired. Simonds won summary judgment on the ground that Pennsylvania's shorter period applied, and the estate appealed, arguing the Full Faith and Credit Clause required applying Alabama's longer period.

Whether the Full Faith and Credit Clause compels a forum state to apply the statute of limitations of the state in which the underlying cause of action accrued, rather than its own limitations period.