Sotomayor Looks to Scalia While Announcing Civil Pro Decision
Justice Sonia Sotomayor looked to her Italian colleague for pronunciation help on Monday when announcing her decision in a case involving civil procedure and an Italian cruise line.
The case, Krupski v. Costa Crociere, allowed a passenger who injured herself on a cruise to pursue her suit, even though her lawyer sued a wrong, but related party, and didn’t make the correction until the statute of limitations had expired. The correct inquiry, the court ruled in a unanimous decision, was whether the proper defendant knew or should have known it was the intended party, but for the plaintiff’s mistake.
But Sotomayor hesitated when she came to the name of the cruise line Costa Crociere, the Associated Press reports.
“Costa Cruises responded that she should have sued a related company called Costa—I’m going to ask my colleague Justice Scalia to say it right,” Sotomayor said.
“Kroo-chee-ER-ay,” Scalia replied.
Sotomayor repeated the word, correctly, then added, “I want to put the Spanish accent on it.”
