Alaska Rent-A-Car, Inc. v. Avis Budget Group, Inc.

ORDER

The opinion filed March 6, 2013, and appearing at 709 F.3d 872 (9th Cir.2013), is hereby amended. The amended opinion is filed concurrently with this Order.

With these amendments, Judges Rawlin-son and Callahan have voted to deny the petition for rehearing en banc, and Judge Kleinfeld has so recommended. The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc and no judge has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc. Fed. R.App. P. 35.

The petition for rehearing en banc is DENIED. No future petitions for rehearing or petitions for rehearing en banc will be entertained.

OPINION

Several state law questions arise in this appeal, and three federal law questions, whether expert testimony should have been excluded under Daubert, 1 whether disallowance of a peremptory challenge *963 was Batson 2 error and if so whether it was harmless, and whether Alaska “English Rule” attorneys fee awards 3 may be awarded in a diversity action where Alaska is the forum state but another state’s law governs the dispute.

FACTS 4 '

Alaska Rent-A-Car’s predecessor began doing business as an Avis licensee in 1956, three years before Alaska attained statehood. Most…