Nebraska § 24-219 - Supreme Court; answer questions of law; when.

§ 24-219. Supreme Court; answer questions of law; when.

The Supreme Court may answer questions of law certified to it by the Supreme Court of the United States, a Court of Appeals of the United States, or a United States District Court, when requested by the certifying court, if there are involved in any proceeding before it questions of law of this state which may be determinative of the cause then pending in the certifying court as to which it appears to the certifying court there is no controlling precedent in the decisions of the Supreme Court of this state. Such request shall not obligate the Supreme Court to accept such request for certification and the Supreme Court may, in its absolute discretion, accept or reject such request for certification as it shall in each case determine.

Under this section, the Nebraska Supreme Court is limited to answering questions of law which have been certified to it by a federal court. Givens v. Anchor Packing, 237 Neb. 565, 466 N.W.2d 771 (1991).

Fact that district court did not certify to state Supreme Court question of whether state tolls, during plaintiff's infancy, running of ten-year statute of limitations provided for medical malpractice actions did not bar court of appeals from utilizing certification procedure, especially where certification procedure was not available to district court at time it considered statute of limitations issue. Hatfield v. Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hosp., 701 F.2d 1266 (8th Cir. 1983).