Civ Pro Flashcards
Types of Subject Matter Jurisdiction
Diversity, FQ, (or supplemental)
Diversity Jurisdiction
(type of SMJ)
The P and D must reside in different states and the case must be in excess of $75k
Federal Question Jurisdiction
(type of SMJ)
The Ps complaint must be based on a federal question
Where is a corporation domiciled for purposes of Diversity Jurisdiction?
In all states in which it is incorporated and in the one state where it has its Principal Place of Business
The court will always get Personal Jurisdiction over the parties if:
1) The parties reside in that state;
2) A party is physically present in a state and served with a complaint;
3) A party consented to be sued there;
4) A party has sufficient minimum contacts w/ that jurisdiction
If you do not have sufficient minimum contacts it is a violation of
due process
Removal
when a case could have been filed in federal court from the beginning but was filed in state court, D may remove the case to federal court
Who can remove a case?
only the defendant
What happens if removal is improper?
The case is remanded
2 ways venue will always be proper:
1) Wherever the Defendant resides;
2) Where the substantial part of events took place
If the two ways to have proper venue are not available, where is venue proper?
Wherever the D is “reachable” (aka wherever the D has personal jurisdiction)
Direct Service
Serving a D directly with a complaint by a non-party who is over 18 y/o
You may indirectly serve a D at their “usual place of abode” (not necessarily their home all the time) so long as
it is to someone of a suitable age and they live there
You may indirectly serve a D by first-class mail so long as
there is a receipt acknowledging the complaint was received
You may indirectly serve a D corporation via
their designated agent or authorized agent
If a D Corporation does not have an authorized agent you may indirectly serve the complaint to
someone of sufficiently high placement (CEO, etc.)
You may indirectly serve someone by complying with
any state statute regarding service
Where can you NOT serve a Defendant if they are not there?
AT THEIR WORK!!! Cannot do this
Service of process is ok so long as it provides
adequate notice
If one party wants to apply one state law and another party wants to apply a different state’s law, which law will the court apply?
AKA: state law v. state law
the law of the state where the court sits (wherever the case was filed)
If one party wants to apply state law and another party wants to apply federal law, which law will the court apply?
AKA: state law v. federal law
State law UNLESS its a procedural issue then federal law applies
exception: if state law and federal law conflict, then federal law will apply (bc supremacy clause)
A party has sufficient minimum contacts in a forum state if they:
purposely availed themselves to the laws of the state and future litigation was foreseeable
General PJ exists if:
- D is at home in the forum state; or
- D was served process in the forum state
Who may serve process?
any one at least 18 years old and who is not a party
When must process be served?
within 90 days of filing the complaint
May process be waived?
Yes. D can waive process and this does not waive any defenses if they do so
May claims be aggregated to meet the amount in controversy requirement of diversity jurisdiction?
yes so long as it is ONE SINGLE PLAINTIFF aggregating all their claims against ONE SINGLE DEFENDANT (does not matter that the claims are not related)
When can removal of a case be done?
No later than 30 days after service
If removal is based solely on diversity jurisdiction, the case should not be removed if:
- ANY Defendant is a citizen of the forum state
AND - It has been more than 1 year since the case was filed in state court
if a P is moving to remand a case for any reason other than SMJ, how much time do they have?
30 days.
NOTE: no time limit to remove a case because of lack of SMJ
supplemental jurisdiction
when a case is already in federal court, but we want to bring an additional claim that the federal court does not have SMJ over
when can an additional claim be brought in under supplemental jurisdiction
if the additional claim has a common nucleus of operative fact with the original claim
NOTE: same T/O = always meets common nucleus test