German Supreme Court cites paper by Franco Ferrari in conflict of laws ruling

The Supreme Court of Germany cited a paper by Professor Franco Ferrari in a decision determining which country’s law should apply in a medical malpractice case brought by a German patient against a Swiss doctor. Ferrari, who is the director of the Law School's Center for Transnational Litigation and Commercial Law, is an expert on European conflict of laws. In its July 19 ruling, which was only recently made public, the German court relied on a paper by Ferrari asserting that, for the purpose of identifying the law applicable to a doctor-patient relationship, one should look at the law of the country in which the doctor practiced – in this case, Switzerland. The reason, Ferrari said, is that it is the doctor’s performance that is at issue in the doctor-patient relationship and, thus, the doctor is the party whose law is most closely connected to that kind of contractual relationship.

Posted December 8, 2011