Gratuitous Guidance From The First Circuit

There's a terrific sequence in this morning's decision by the First Circuit in LPP Mortgage, Ltd. v. Sugarman, No. 08-2134. The Court was faced with a situation in which the parties disagreed about whether Maine or Massachusetts law applied to their dispute, and the district court decided to use a hybrid of the two. "Neither side complains about this approach on appeal," the Court writes, "and we mention it only because both sides were probably wrong." (emphasis mine).

See, this was one of those rare instances where federal common law applied to the claims in question. No real harm done, but it always stings a bit to have a judge tell you that you whiffed on an argument.