The following excerpt is from Fay v. South Colonie Cent. School Dist., 802 F.2d 21 (2nd Cir. 1986):
Our abstention in this case is not precluded by our recent decision in Giardina v. Fontana, 733 F.2d 1047 (2d Cir.1984). In that case we held that abstention was inappropriate in a diversity action for declaratory relief or for the rescission of an assignment of an interest in a decedent's estate because the action was not on the verge of the "probate exception" to the federal court's diversity jurisdiction, no special state expertise was required to determine whether an assignment had been induced by fraud and the state probate court had refused to entertain the plaintiff's claims. Id. at 1051-52. The action in Giardina was also deemed not to contain any " 'controlling or obscure question[s] of state law.' " Id. at 1051 (citation omitted). The issue in Giardina was "a simple and largely factual question involving well-settled principles of state law." Id.
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