Civil Procedure Cards

Question 1

Erie Doctrine

Answer 1

When a case is presented in federal court but federal law may conflict with state law, it muse be determined if state substantive law or federal procedural law will apply to the court. Substantive applies to issues such as torts, contracts, or property. Procedural law applies to matters such as venue & diversity and issues relating to the constitution or some federal statute.

Question 2

Venue

Answer 2

Is proper in any district in which a defendant resides, if all defendants reside in the same district, or in the district where the events giving rise to the cause of action occurred, or where the subject matter of the action is located. If neither of these are proper, then venue may be proper in any district in which a defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction.

Question 3

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Answer 3

When a case is presented to a federal court, there are generally two situations in which the federal court will hear a complaint by a civilian. When the suit relates to a federal question, or when the suit relates to diversity.

Question 4

Federal Question

Answer 4

Is presented when a civilian seeks to argue against a state or government statute that could potentially lead to discrimination or some issue that involves the civilian population suffering due to the statute.

Question 5

Diversity

Answer 5

A federal court will hear a state law claim if it relates to two or more individuals, each from different states, and the matter in question exceeds damages of $75,000. A plaintiff may aggregate multiple claims against the same defendant in order to satisfy the amount-in-controversy requirement.

Question 6

Discovery

Answer 6

Enables parties to obtain information from one another relevant to their claims and defenses. Before parties may properly begin discovery, they must make initial disclosures of certain information, which includes names of those who have the info. Discovery also requires a discovery schedule.

Question 7

Scope of Discovery

Answer 7

Discovery is proper for any non-privileged matter that may lead to the discovery of any relevant evidence. Relevant evidence is evidence which tends to make a fact more or less probable. However, discovery does not have to be admissible in court to be discoverable, as long as it is relevant, the evidence may be properly discoverable.

Question 8

Discovery of Expert Evidence

Answer 8

Under the FR, a party has an affirmative obligation to disclose basic information about its testifying experts, including the identity of the expert, the opinions to be offered, the factual basis for those opinions, and the experts qualifications.

Question 9

Motion to Compel

Answer 9

A motion to compel may be filed only upon a good faith certification by the person seeking discovery that they have either conferred or made a good-faith effort to confer with the opposite party in seeking the discovery, and the party opposing the discovery refuses to turn over the discovery regardless.

Question 10

Request for Production of Documents

Answer 10

A part may properly request that another party produce documents.

Question 11

Claim Preclusion (Res Judicata)

Answer 11

Claim preclusion prevents the same claim from being litigated multiple times, so long as it is (1) the same claim (2) between the same parties (3) that is a result of a final, valid judgment (4) on the merits

Question 12

Claim Preclusion: Same Claim

Answer 12

To determine whehter a second claim is in fact the same claim as the first, federal courts apply a “transactional” test, which requires determining whether the incident was a pert of the same transaction or occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences. However, because federal courts apply the law of the state court in which they sit during diversity, such as here in California, CA law would apply. Under such state law, the test becomes broader as the claim would arise out of the same “injury.”

Question 13

Claim Preclusion: Same Parties

Answer 13

A claim is between the same “parties” if the actual same parties are involved, or if it involves the parties successors in interest.

Question 14

Claim Preclusion: Valid, Final Judgement

Answer 14

In federal court, a valid final judgment is one that is the result of either a motion for summary judgment or a verdict. The summary judgment is final after the verdict has been rendered and there is nothing additional to perform other than the entry of judgment. However, under CA law, a judgment is generally not treated as final until the subsequent appeals have been exhausted.

Question 15

On the Merits

Answer 15

A judgment is on the merits if the court or a jury ruled on the case’s substantive grounds, as opposed to dismissing the case on a procedural issue.

Question 16

Issue Preclusion (Collateral Estoppel)

Answer 16

Occurs when there is a 1) final judgement on the merits; 2) an issue was actually litigated in the first case; and 3) it was necessarily decided.

Question 17

Valid Final Judgement

Answer 17

In federal court, a valid final judgment is one that is the result of either a motion for summary judgment or a verdict. The summary judgment is final after the verdict has been rendered and there is nothing additional to perform other than the entry of judgment. However, under CA law, a judgment is generally not treated as final until the subsequent appeals have been exhausted.

Question 18

Same Issue

Answer 18

The same “issue” refers to the same factual or legal dispute as to a certain occurrence or transaction.

Question 19

Actually Litigated

Answer 19

To determine if the same issue was actually litigated, it is necessary to determine if the parties were able to present evidence on the issue, call witnesses, and litigate the matter.

Question 21

Necessarily Decided

Answer 21

An issue must have been necessarily decided, which means that the jury (or judge, in a bench trial) could not have ruled on some other grounds in its verdict for a party. Though this may generally be difficult to decide in the case of a jury trial with multiple issues, this is a jury trial with one issue…

Question 21

Personal Jurisdiction

Answer 21

Is the court’s ability to have jurisdiction over the people involved in the claim. There are three tradition bases of in personam jurisdiction: when a defendant consents to the court’s jurisdiction, when a defendant is domiciled in the jurisdiction in which the court sits, and when a defendant is present in the jurisdiction and is properly served with process while present. When the traditional bases do not apply, a state long-arm statute may provide an alternative basis for jurisdiction.

Question 22

Interrogatory

Answer 22

Is a discovery document that compel production of relevant information. The party responding to interrogatories must provide written responses, under oath, within 30 days of service of the interrogatories. However, a responding party need only provide info within its possession, custody, or control after a reasonably diligent search or inquiry.

Question 23

Presumptive Limit on Interrogatories

Answer 23

Under the Federal Rules, there is a presumptive limit of 25 interrogatories, including discrete subparts, unless a party receives leave of court.

Question 24

Objections to Interrogatories

Answer 24

A party responding to written discovery requests, including interrogators, must state their objections specifically. If an answer is only in part objectionable, a responding party must specify the part objectionable and answer the remainder.

Question 25

Cause for Examinations

Answer 25

Unlike other discovery requests, obtaining a mental or physical examination of a party under the FR requires a court order based on a showing of good cause, unless the party consents.

Question 25

Consulting Expert Privilege

Answer 25

Information about a party’s consulting expert, meaning one who is not going to testify at trial, is generally not discoverable except in very limited circumstances.

Question 26

Joinder of Claims

Answer 26

Generally, a plaintiff may bring any number of claims against the same defendant, even if they are unrelated or do not have a common nucleus of operative facts, in the same action. If the claims are brought in federal court, at least one of the claims must satisfy the requirements of subject matter jurisdiction

Question 27

Abstentation

Answer 27

If a state law claim is joined to another claim, the federal court asked to hear those claims may abstain from hearing the state law claim, sever it, and remand it to a state court if the interest of the state in resolving the questions of law that are at issue are particularly high.

Question 28

Well-pleaded Complaint

Answer 28

To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted, the pleading in a complaint must allege enough facts to give the defendant notice of the cause of action and the facts on which the claim is based. A federal court must apply a two-part test to determine whether a complain is well pleaded. 1)The court strikes all conclusory legal allegations. 2) Taking all remaining factual allegations as true, the court determines whether the facts as alleged would make it plausible for the plaintiff to succeed in obtaining the relief that is sought.

Question 29

Fraud Pleadings

Answer 29

For claims of fraud, the FR require fact-pleading, rather than notice-pleading. The plaintiff must allege specific facts that made the defendant’s conduct fraudulent.

Question 30

Supplemental Jurisdiction

Answer 30

A court may exercise supplemental jurisdiction over a claim if it arises out of the same transaction or occurrence as a claim, between the same plaintiff and defendant, over which the court already had SMJ.

Question 32

Law of the Situs

Answer 32

When an issue of property arises, the court will apply a default choice of law to resolve such issue by applying the law of the state in which the property is located.

Question 33

Right to a Jury Trial

Answer 33

In federal cases, a plaintiff is entitled to a jury trial, per the Seventh Amendment of the Constitution, in any action at law. However, there is no entitlement to a jury trial in an equity action. Whether a case is one of law or equity is a purely federal question, and must be decided by the court according to federal law.

Question 34

Service of Process

Answer 34

A defendant may be personally served with a summons and a copy of a complaint. When in-person service does not work, substituted service may be attempted by leaving the summons and a copy of the complaint with the defendant’s registered agent or another person who resides at the defendant’s domicile. The summons and complaint must also be sent via certified mail to the defendant’s address. However, process must be served by a person over the age of 18 who is not a party to the case.

Question 35

Long Arm Statute and Constitutional Limitations

Answer 35

A State’s long-arm statute goes to the full extent of the federal constitution, subject to Due Process Limitations. For a court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction to comport with Due Process limitations, the defendant must have sufficient minim contacts with the jurisdiction, the exercise of jurisdiction must be related to the defendant’s contacts, and the exercise of jurisdiction must not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.

Question 36

Long Arm: Minimum Contacts

Answer 36

For a D to have sufficient minimum contacts with the state, it must have purposefully availed itself of the state, such that it was foreseeable that its minimum contacts would cause it to be haled into the states court. In stream of commerce cases, purposeful availment consists of some action by the defendant deliberately targeting the jurisdiction.

Question 37

Long Arm: Relatedness

Answer 37

Us satisfied either in a specific sense when a cause of action arises out of a defendants contacts with a jurisdiction, or more generally when a defendant is domiciled in a jurisdiction and is essentially “at home” in that jurisdiction.

Question 38

Long Arm: Fair Play and Substantial Justice

Answer 38

Even when a D has sufficient minimum contacts and relatedness is satisfied, the exercise of personal jurisdiction must not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. In consdiered whether the exercise of personal jurisdiction does so, a court considers a multitude of factors, including the P’s interest in relief, the forum states interest in providing a forum such that the P can seek redress, and whether other forums might be more appropriate.

Question 39

Removal to Federal Court

Answer 39

A case initially filed in state court is properly removable to federal court when the case could originally have been brought in federal court. Removal is accomplished by filing a notice of removal in federal court within 30 days of service of a document that shows the case to be removable, but cases removable to federal court solely on the basis of federal diversity jurisdiction cannot be removed more than one year after the filing of the state court action.

Question 40

Right to Appeal

Answer 40

A grant of a motion to remand is never appealable. However, under the final judgement rule, one has a right to appeal as of right only from a final judgment of the district court. A final judgement is one that is final as to all claims at issue and all parties involved. A denial of a motion to remand is not such a final judgement.

Question 41

Work Product Privilege

Answer 41

When a discovery request is within the permissible scope of discovery, but it seeks protected or privileged info, the responding party must provide a priv log describing the document with particularity and asserting why its priv. The work product doctrine applies to all materials prepared by an attorney, or a client at attorneys request, in anticipation of litigation. However, opposing may be able to obtain the document if they can prove that there is no other way of obtaining such info and is detrimental to their case.