Notes and Comments

1.American Cyanamid was a large,diversified,American chemical manufacturer,founded by Frank Washburn in 1907.It was the only United States firm manufacturing the polio vaccine of the Sabin type.

In its later life,the company frequently brushed up against the law for its environmental practices.In the process,it abandoned a number of hazardous waste sites to the government,notably the Bound Brook and Bridgewater sites in New Jersey.The company merged with American Home Products in 1994.The company was involved in a well-known legal case in the United Kingdom which set the test for interim injunctions in England and Wales and set down what became known to lawyers as the “American Cyanamid” rules.American Cyanamid is now known as Cytec.(Information from wikipedia.com.)

2.In the opening paragraph,it was stated that the case was a “diversity suit.” Generally in the United States,tort cases are state law issues,and should be brought to a state court,not a federal court.Under the U.S.Constitution,there are several reasons the same case may be brought in a federal district court,one of which is that a local state court may be biased against an out-of-state litigant,thus allowing federal jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship.A corporate citizen,like a natural person,is a citizen of the United States,and also of the state where it is incorporated.If the plaintiff and the defendant are citizens of different states,the case may thus be brought to a federal court.This happens frequently,especially among corporations.At one point,federal courts considered to build a set of federal common law rules governing this kind of cases,but it was eventually overruled under Erie Railroad Co.v.Tompkins.(https://www.daowen.com)

3.What are the strategies of the plaintiff in this case,and do you think it would lose completely?