5.1.4 Jurisdiction; Choice of Law

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

In Bates v. Superior Court,^[69] the court made a threshold determination that Restatement (Second) of Conflicts of Law Sec. 146 was applicable to interstate insurance bad faith. The bad faith refusal to pay policy benefits could create sufficient mental stress to qualify as a personal injury under Arizona law^[70] and, therefore, the criteria set forth in Restatement Sec. 145(2) were applicable. The inquiry regarding contacts is qualitative, not quantitative.^[71] Because the Arizona courts evaluate the contacts "according to their relative importance with respect to the particular issue"^[72] at hand, the court followed the specific qualitative guideline for personal injury cases set forth in Restatement Sec. 146:

In an action for a personal injury, the local law of the state where the injury occurred determines the rights and liabilities of the parties, unless, with respect to the particular issue, some other state law has a more significant relationship under the principles stated in Sec. 6 to the occurrence and the parties, in which event the local law of the other state will be applied.^[73]

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Notes:

[69]156 Ariz. 46, 749 P.2d 1367 (1988).

[70]Arizona courts apply the principals of...