"When confronted with uncertain state law, a federal court, sitting in diversity jurisdiction, must predict what course the highest court in the state would take." Byelick v. Vivadelli, 79 F. Supp.2d 610, 623 (E.D. Va. 1999). The court can base this prediction on "canons of construction . . . recent pronouncements of general rules or policies by the state's highest court, well considered dicta, and the state's trial court decisions."