Civ Pro Flashcards
Personal Jurisdiction (General)
Personal Jurisdiction is the power of the court over a particular person. To determine whether a federal court has personal jurisdiction over a particular party, the personal jurisdiction law of the state in which the federal court sits must be satisfied and the exercise of personal jurisdiction must comply with the US Consitution. A state court may exercise personal jurisdiction over an OOS defendant if authorized by the state’s long-arm statute. A state law will be constitutional if it authorizes personal jurisdiction in one of five following circumstances: residency, consent, service, minimum contacts, or substantial business.
Substantial Business
A Federal court can constitutionally assert personal jurisdiction over a defendant corporation if it is doing substantial business in the forum state. this is a very high bar to clear. The business must be so significant that the company, though not incorporated or headquartered in the state, is essentially at home there.
A corporation would probably not be considered essentially at home and not subject to general jurisdiction in a state in which it is not inc not has its principal place of business.
Subject Matter Jurisdiction
Subject matter Jurisdiction is the power of a court over a particular case. There are 4 ways to establish SMJ: Federal Question, Diversity Jurisdiction, Supplemental Jurisdiction, or Removal
Federal Question (SMJ)
A court can have SMJ if there is a Federal Question, meaning that a question of federal law must arise in Plaintiff’s affirmative claim. A plaintiff can bring a state law action in additional to the federal law action if the FQ is (1) actually in dispute, (2) it demands federal judges’ expertise and ought to be resolved uniformly and (3) the issue is not so commonly present in state law actions to trample their jurisdiction.
Federal courts have subject matter jurisdiction over all civil actions arising under the US Constitution, the federal laws, or the treatises of the US. Generally, any causes of action created by federal statutes qualify for federal question jurisdiction.
Diversity jurisdiction (SMJ)
A court has diversity jurisdiction over a claim where the amount in controversy is greater than $75,000 and there is complete diversity of citizenship between the plaintiff and all defendants. The diversity must be complete, there is no P and no D are citizens of the same state.
Diversity JD (SMJ): Determining Diversity
Diversity is measured at the time the suit is filed but amended complaints and add or dismiss issues can affect diversity.
Humans can only be a citizen of one place: where they reside and intend to remain indefinitely. Domicile continues until it is charged.
A corporation is a citizen of both the state of its incorporation and the state where it has its principal place of business. A corporation may only have one principal place of business. The principal place of business is the state in which the corporation has its nerve center or the place from which the corporation’s high-level officers direct, control, and coordinate the corporation’s activities.
Supplemental jurisdiction (SMJ)
Supplemental jurisdiction allows a claim falling outside of FQ or DJ to piggyback onto a claim that does fall within FQ or DJ.
Federal Courts have SJ over claims that form part of the same case or controversy as claims over which the federal court has original jurisdiction. A claim must arise out of the same transaction or occurrence, which means it must arise from a common nucleus of operative facts. Federal courts may decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction if the supplemental claim substantially predominates over the original claim.
Removal (SMJ)
Under removal, a defendant can remove from state to federal court if the case could have originally been filed in federal court but defedant cant remove if fed jurisdiction would be grounded only on diversity and defendant is a citizen of the state where plantiff filed suit.
Residency (PJ)
PJ is constitutional is met if a party is domiciled in the state where the suit was filed.
Consent (PJ)
A party can consent to PJ in three ways: appearance, contract, and appointment.
Service (PJ)
PJ is constitutional if D is served with process while in the state where suit is filed. Not const if P forces D to go to state or D was in state to participate in a different legal proceeding
Minimum Contacts (PJ)
For jurisdiction to be constitutional under a “minimum contacts” analysis (and for specific jurisdiction to be found, three conditions must be satisfied:
1) the defendant has established a minimum contact with the forum state; 2) the claim against D arises from that contact; and 3) PJ wont offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.
For a court to exercise specific jurisdiction over a claim, there must be a connection between the forum and the underlying controversy - in essence, an activity or an occurrence - that takes place in the forum state. Where there is no connection, specific jurisdiction is lacking regardless of the extent of a defendant’s unconnected activities in the forum state.
Venue (General)
Proper venue is the region w/in a particular state where the suit can be brought. If all D’s reside in the same state, venue is proper in any district where any single D resides. If Ds reside in multiple states, venue is proper in the location where harm occurred. If there is no other alternative, any judicial district in which any defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction with respect to that action is proper.
Transferring venue
Can ask to move between federal courts for three reasons: convenience, agreement, pr interest of justice
Forum non conveniens (Venue)
If the most convenient forum is not in the US, a court can dismiss the case without prejudice so that P can refile in the proper country.
