Civil Procedure - Professor Dallan Flake

Question 1

Pleadings

Answer 1

The four corners of the page.

Pleadings are the documents setting forth our claims and defenses.

Question 2

Plausibility Standard

Answer 2

The Twombly / Iqbal pleading standards not only specify that a complaint must be plausible on its face, but it must bring forth sufficient factual allegations that nudge a claim across the line from conceivable to plausible. The alleged facts must be reasonable and likely to occur.

Question 3

Terry Test

Answer 3

7th Amendment
The standard for determining whether jury or not.
1st prong - equitable or legal
equitable - injunction, specific performance, and rescission.
2nd prong - is the type of issue that a jury should be deciding? If yes - then jury. If no - then no jury.

Question 4

Hoffman Rule

Answer 4

You can only transfer a lawsuit to a district that is a proper venue and has personal jurisdiction.
Rule - if when a lawsuit is commenced, plaintiff has a right to sue in that district, independently of the wishes of the defendant, it is a district “where that action might have been brought.”

Question 5

Rules Enabling Act

Answer 5

An act passed by Congress that gave the SC the power to make rules of procedure and evidence for federal courts as long as they did not “abridge, enlarge, or modify any substantive right.”
The Rules Enabling Act says that federal rules are valid if they do not modify substantive rights.

Question 6

Collateral Order Rule

Answer 6

A doctrine allowing appeals from interlocutory rulings (i.e. preceding final judgment) so long as those rulings conclusively decide an issue separate from the merits of the case and would be effectively unreviewable after final judgment.

Question 7

Relevant Contact

Answer 7

Two components

1. Purposeful availment - defendant must reach out to the forum.
2. Forseeability - forseeable that the defendant can be sued in that state.

Question 8

Appeal of Interlocutory Orders

Answer 8

An appeal that occurs before the trial court’s final ruling on the entire case.

Some interlocutory appeals involve legal points necessary to the determination of the case, while others involve collateral orders that are wholly separate from the merits of the action.

Interlocutory Appeals Act; Final Judge Rule

Question 9

Interlocutory

Answer 9

Interlocutory refers to any order that is not a final judgment. So, everything that is not a final judgment is an interlocutory order.

Question 10

Permissive Counterclaim

Answer 10

Is a counterclaim (usually the defendant countersuing the plaintiff) that does not arise out of the same transaction or occurrence as the original claim filed. A permissive counterclaim can only be heard if it independently satisfies diversity jurisdiction.

Question 11

Final Judgment Rule

Answer 11

The principle that a party may appeal only from a district court’s final decision that ends the litigation on the merits.

Under this rule, a party must raise all claims of error in a single appeal.

Also termed Final Decision Rule

Question 12

Interlocutory Review

Answer 12

An order that is not a final judgment.
Grouped into categories.

Statute

1. Injunction
2. DC & CC agree - difference of opinion

FRCP

1. Class action
2. Multiple claims or multiple parties

Question 13

Collateral Order Doctrine

Answer 13

A doctrine allowing appeal from an interlocutory order that conclusively determines an issue wholly separate from the merits of the action and effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment.

Also termed Cohen Doctrine

Question 14

Preliminary Injunction - Two types

Answer 14

There are two types of preliminary injunctions.

1. Prohibitory injunction - prohibits or restrains a party from engaging in a specified behavior.
2. Mandatory injunction - requires the defendant to engage in an affirmative act.

Question 15

Claim and Issue Preclusion

Preclusion Doctrine

Answer 15

Older terms

1. Res judicata
2. Collateral estoppel

Now this is about the effect of a judgment that is entered by a trial court.

We have a judgment in a case, and now there is another case pending and the question under preclusion doctrine is whether the judgment in case #1 from case #2.

Question 16

Preclusion Doctrine

Answer 16

The question under preclusion doctrine is whether the judgment in case one, precludes us, or stops us, from litigating anything in case two. It may do that with claim preclusion, or issue preclusion, but it may narrow the scope of the litigation in the second case.

Question 17

Personal Jurisdiction

General & Specific

Answer 17

The court’s power over the parties.

The court must have personal jurisdiction over the defendant.

Question 18

Notice

Answer 18

Must give the defendant notice and an opportunity to be heard.

Service of process important regarding notice.

Question 19

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Answer 19

We are talking about the court’s power over the case and not over the parties.

Does the court have the authority to hear this kind of case?

Federal courts have limited SMJ.

Question 20

Erie Doctrine

Answer 20

If we are in a federal court under diversity jurisdiction, does the federal judge have to apply state law, or is she free to ignore state law?

Question 21

Joinder

Answer 21

Related to pleadings.

Joinder figures out how big that lawsuit will become.

Tells us how many claims and how many parties can be packaged into a single case.

There are rules like counterclaims and crossclaims and impleader and class action.

Question 22

Discovery

Answer 22

Discovery allows the parties to find out what the other parties know about the case and discover relevant material.

Question 23

Adjudication

Answer 23

The court decides who wins the case on the merits.

Maybe it’s done without trial as in summary judgment.

Maybe its done with trial. Big issue - jury trial.

Question 24

Appellate Review

Answer 24

We’ve gone through the litigation stream in the trial court, now we’ve come to a judgment, can we get review of that judgment by a higher court?

Question 25

Pre-Emptory Challenge

Answer 25

One of a party’s limited number of challenges that do not need to be supported by a reason unless the opposing party makes prima facie showing that the challenge was used to discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, or sex.

Question 26

Bell Atlantic v Twombly

Answer 26

A complaint must allege facts with sufficient specificity to state a claim for relief that is plausible, not merely conceivable, on its face.

Question 27

Material Facts

Answer 27

A fact that is significant or essential to the issue or matter at hand, especially, a fact that makes a difference in the result to be reached in a given case.

Question 28

Mandamus Review

Answer 28

A writ issued by a court to compel performance of a particular act by a lower court or a governmental officer or body, usually, to correct a prior action or failure to act.

Question 29

Well Pleaded Complaint Rule

Answer 29

The Well Pleaded Complaint Rule - in order to have federal question jurisdiction, the plaintiff’s complaint must be a well-pleaded one. This means that the plaintiff’s initial complaint must contain the references to the federal question and the federal issue evoke.

Is the plaintiff enforcing a federal right?
If “yes,” it’s a federal question and gets into federal court.

Question 30

Personal Jurisdiction

Answer 30

A court’s power to bring a person into its adjudicative process, jurisdiction over a defendant’s personal rights, rather than merely over property interests.

Two types: General and Specific

Question 31

Summary Judgment

Answer 31

A judgment granted on a claim or defense about which there is no genuine issue of material fact and on which the movant is entitled to prevail as a matter of law.

The court considers the contents of the pleadings, the motions, and additional evidence adduced by the parties to determine whether there is a genuine issue of material fact rather than one of law. This procedure device allows the speedy disposition of a controversy without the need for trial.

Question 32

Safe Harbor

Answer 32

1. An area or means of protection.

2. A provision (as in a statute or regulation) that affords protection from liability or penalty.

Question 33

Genuine Dispute

Answer 33

Genuine - (of a thing) authentic or real; having the quality of what a given thing purports to be or to have.

Question 34

Hanna Doctrine

Answer 34

The court further refined the Eric Doctrine. Regarding when and by what means federal courts are obliged to apply state law in cases brought under diversity jurisdiction. The question in the instant case was whether FRCP governing service of process should yield to state rules governing the service of process in diversity cases. The court ruled that under the facts of this case, federal courts should apply the federal rule.

Question 35

Erie Doctrine

Answer 35

Mandates that a federal court called upon to resolve a dispute not directly implicating a federal question must apply state substantive law.

Black letter rule on Erie is: That in diversity cases, a federal court must apply state substantive law.

Question 36

Removal Jurisdiction

Answer 36

Allows a defendant to move a civil action filed in a state court to a US District Court in the federal judicial district in which the state court is located.

General Rule is - that the defendant can remove if the case could have been brought in federal court. This means that it meets the requirements for diversity or federal question.

Question 37

Supplemental Jurisdiction

Answer 37

Jurisdiction over a claim that is part of the same case or controversy as another claim over which the court has original jurisdiction.

Question 38

Additur

Answer 38

A trial court’s order, issued usually with the defendant’s consent, that increases the jury’s award of damages to avoid a new trial on grounds of inadequate damages.

The term may also refer to the increase itself, the procedure, or the court’s power to make the order.

Question 39

Variance

Answer 39

A variance is where the evidence at trial does not match what was pleaded.

Question 40

Relationship Back

Answer 40

Doctrine of relation back is a principle that something done today will be treated as if it were done earlier.

We treat the amendment as though it was filed when the original case was filed, and therefore get around a statute of limitation (SOL) problem.

Question 41

Motion for a New Trial

Answer 41

A party’s post judgment request that the court vacate the judgment and order a new trial for such reasons as factually insufficient evidence, newly discovered evidence, and jury misconduct.

In many jurisdictions, this motion is required before a party can raise a matter on appeal.

Question 42

Choice of Law Provision

Answer 42

The question of which jurisdiction’s law should apply in a given case.

A contractual provision by which the parties designate the jurisdiction whose law will govern any disputes that may arise between the parties.

Question 43

Ashcroft v Iqbal

Answer 43

The Iqbal decision stiffened the federal pleading standard. By requiring sufficient specificity and plausible allegations of misconduct or misfeasance in all civil actions, the SC has made clear that nonspecific “notice” pleadings can no longer unleash costly litigation.

Question 44

Intervention

Answer 44

You have a third party who brings herself into the case.

Two kinds of intervention.

1. Intervention of right - you may intervein if your interests are harmed if not joined.
2. Permissive intervention - absentee show your claim and pending case have at least one common question.

Question 45

Conley v Gibson

Answer 45

Requires that a complaint contain only a short and plain statement of a claim rather than a long-detailed set of facts.

Question 46

Impleader

Answer 46

The third-party defendant may be liable to the original defendant. The original defendant shifts the liability either entirely through indemnity or partially through contribution.

Question 47

Pleading Requirments

Answer 47

A formal document in which a party to a legal proceeding sets forth or responds to allegations, claim, denials, or defenses.

In federal civil procedure, the main pleadings are the plaintiff’s complaint and the defendant’s answer.

Question 48

Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law (JMOL)

Answer 48

A judgment rendered during a jury trial - either before or after the jury’s verdict - against a party on a given issue when there are no legally sufficient bases for a jury to find for that party on that issue.

In federal practice, the term “judgment as a matter of law” has replaced both the “directed verdict” and the “judgment notwithstanding the verdict.”

Question 49

Transferee

Answer 49

The federal district court to which we transfer to is the transferee.

The only way we transfer a case is the transferor court grants it and sends the case to the transferee court.

The transferee - the court where we send the case.

Question 50

For Cause Challenge

Answer 50

A party’s challenge supported by a specific reason, such as bias or prejudice, that would disqualify that potential juror.

Question 51

Merger

Answer 51

Merger is claim perclusion if the claimant won case number one.

Bar is claim perclusion if the claimant lost case number one.

Question 52

Transferor

Answer 52

The original federal district court is the transferor.

The only way we transfer a case is the transferor court grants it and sends the case to the transferee court.

Question 53

Eric Doctrine Rules

Answer 53

Federal courts must apply state substantive legal rules when adjudicating state law claims.

Substantive question - apply state law.

Procedural question - apply federal law.

Question 54

Specific Personal Jurisdiction

Answer 54

Jurisdiction that stems from the defendant’s having certain minimum contacts with the forum state so that the court may hear a case whose issues arise from those minimum contacts.

Question 55

Relatedness

Answer 55

Connected in some way, having relationship to or with something else - a close related subject.

Connected by blood or marriage; allied by kinship, especially by consanguinity.

Question 56

Diversity Jurisdiction

Answer 56

A federal court’s exercise of authority over a case involving parties who are citizens of different states and an amount in controversy greater than a statutory minimum.

Question 57

Removal

Answer 57

1. The transfer or moving of a person or thing from one location, position, or residence to another.
2. The transfer of an action from state to federal court. In removing a case to federal court, a litigant must timely file the removal papers and must show a valid basis for federal court jurisdiction.

Question 58

Service of Process & Notice

Answer 58

Serve - to make legal delivery of a notice or process.

Process - proceeds or issues forth an order to bring the defendant into court to answer the charge against him.

Notice - legal notification required by law or agreement or imparted by operation of law as a result of some fact.

Question 59

Specific Personal Jurisdiction

Answer 59

Jurisdiction that stems from the defendant’s having certain minimum contacts with the forum state so that the court may hear a case whose issues arise from those minimum contacts.

Question 60

In Personam Jurisdiction

Answer 60

Means “against a particular person.”

In rem = property
in personam = person

Question 61

Personal Jurisdiction

Answer 61

The ability of a court to exercise power over a particular defendant or item of property.

Three types of personal jurisdiction

1. In personam jurisdiction
2. In rem jurisdiction
3. Quasi In rem jurisdiction

Question 62

Class Actions

Answer 62

A lawsuit in which the court authorizes a single person or small group of people to represent the interests of a larger group.

Federal procedure has several prerequisites for maintaining a class action:

1. the class must be so large that individual suits would be impracticable.
2. there must be legal or factual question common to the class.
3. the claims or defenses of the representative parties must be typical of those of the class.
4. the representative parties must adequately protect the interests of the class.

Question 63

Venire

Answer 63

A venire is the group from which the final jury is going to be selected. That jury is selected through the voir dire process, means questions to potential jurors and then seat the final jury.

Question 64

Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law

Answer 64

A party’s request that the court enter judgment in its favor before submitting the case to the jury because there is no legally sufficient evidentiary foundation on which a reasonable jury could find for the other party.

Judge cannot overturn jury verdict.
To have or get a JNOV, a JMOL must have been filed.

Question 65

Judgment as a Matter of Law

Answer 65

A judgment rendered during a jury trial - either before or after the jury’s verdict - against a party on a given issue when there is no legally sufficient basis for a jury to find for that party on that issue.

Opposing party has insufficient evidence to support its case.

JMOL - occurs during trial.

Question 66

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Answer 66

Jurisdiction over the nature of the case and the type of relief sought; the extent to which a court can rule on the document of persons or the status of things.

Question 67

Intervention

Answer 67

The entry into a lawsuit by a third party who despite not being named a party to the action, has a personal stake in the outcome.

Question 68

Sua Sponte

Answer 68

Latin for “of one’s own accord, voluntarily.”

Without prompting or suggestion, on its own motion - the court took notice sua sponte that it lacked jurisdiction over the case.

Question 69

Erie Doctrine

Answer 69

Substantive question - apply state law
Procedural question - apply federal law

Mandates that a federal court called upon to resolve a dispute not directly implicating a federal question (most commonly when sitting in diversity jurisdiction, but also when applying supplemental jurisdiction to claims factually related to a federal question or in an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy) must apply state substantive law. Federal courts must apply state substantive legal rules when adjudicating state law claims.

Question 70

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Answer 70

The requirement that a given court have power to hear the specific kind of claim that is brought to that court.

Litigating parties cannot waive subject matter jurisdiction.

Question 71

Pendent Jurisdiction

Answer 71

Is the authority of a US federal court to hear a closely related state law claim against a party already facing a federal claim, described by the SC as “jurisdiction over nonfederal claims between parties litigating other matters properly before the court.”

Question 72

Federal Question Jurisdiction

Answer 72

Constitutional law

The exercise of federal court power over claims arising under the US Constitution, an act of Congress or a treaty.

Question 73

Venue

Answer 73

1. The proper or a possible place for a lawsuit to proceed, usually because the place has some connection either with the events that gave rise to the lawsuit or with the plaintiff or defendant.
2. The territory, such as a country or other political subdivision, over which a trial court has jurisdiction.

Question 74

The Rules of Decision Act

Answer 74

Federal courts sitting in diversity are bound to apply state law.

Federal courts must apply state law on substantive matters.

Question 75

Motions to Dismiss

Answer 75

A request that the court dismiss the case because of settlement, voluntary withdrawal, or procedural defect. Under FRCP, a plaintiff may voluntarily dismiss the case or defendant may ask the court to dismiss the case based on a defense listed in rule 12(b).

These defenses include:

1. lack of personal or SMJ
2. improper venue
3. insufficiency of process
4. the plaintiff’s failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted
5. the failure to join an indispensable party

Question 76

Amendments to Pleadings

Answer 76

An amendment is the correction of an error or the supplying of an omission in the process or pleadings. An emended pleading differs from a supplemental pleading in that the true function of the latter is to spread upon the record matter material to the issue which has arisen subsequent to the filing of a pleading, while matter of amendment purely is matter that might well have been pleaded at the time the pleading sought to be amended was filed, but which through error or inadvertence was omitted or misstated.

Question 77

Outcome Determinative Test

Answer 77

The test by which a federal court determines whether a state law must be followed if the outcome would be identical utilizing federal rules.

Its substantive because its outcome determinative. This is how to apply the test.

If we use state law, case dismissed right away, because barred by SOL. If we ignore state law, this case is not dismissed, and it will proceed in the litigation stream.

Question 78

Work Product

Answer 78

Hickman

Tangible material or its intangible equivalent, in unwritten or oral form, that was either prepared by or for a lawyer or prepared for litigation, either planned or in progress.

Generally, exempt from discovery or other compelled disclosure.

Question 79

Impleader

Answer 79

A procedure by which a third party is brought into a lawsuit, especially, by a defendant who seeks to shift liability to someone not sued by the plaintiff.

Also termed - Third Party Practice

Question 80

Remittitur

Answer 80

1. An order awarding a new trial, or damages amount lower than that awarded by the jury and requiring the plaintiff to choose between those alternatives.
2. The process by which a court requires either that the case be retried, or that the damages awarded by the jury be reduced.

Question 81

Core Product

Answer 81

Also called - Opinion work product

A lawyer’s opinions, mental impressions, conclusions, or legal theories regarding a client’s case.

An adversary usually cannot gain access to this work product despite showing substantial need and undue hardship.

Question 82

Forum State

Answer 82

Conflict of laws

The state in which a lawsuit is filed.

Question 83

Forum Non-Conveniens

Answer 83

Is a discretionary power that allows courts to dismiss a case where another court, or forum is much better suited to hear the case?

This is where a court dismisses a case because there is a court that makes a lot more sense. There is another court that is the center of gravity.

Cannot transfer - you dismiss.

You cannot transfer a case to a different system.

Question 84

Motion for Summary Judgment

Answer 84

A judgment granted on a claim or defense about which there is no genuine issue of material fact and on which the movant is entitled to prevail as a matter of law.

Question 85

Forum

Answer 85

A public place, especially one devoted to assembly or debate.

A court or other judicial body, a place of jurisdiction.

Forum State - Conflict of Law

The state in which a lawsuit is filed.

Question 86

In Rem Jurisdiction

Answer 86

The power a court may exercise over property (either real or property) or a “status” against a person over whom the court does not have in personam jurisdiction.

Question 87

Pretrial Conferences

Answer 87

An informal meeting at which opposing attorneys confer, usually with the judge to work toward the disposition of the case by discussing matters of evidence and narrowing the issues that will be tried.

The conference takes place shortly before trial and ordinarily results in a pretrial order.

Question 88

Attachment Statute

Answer 88

The seizing of a person’s property to secure a judgment or to be sold in satisfaction of a judgment.

Also termed (in civil law) provisional seizure.

Question 89

Fairness Factors

Answer 89

The five Fairness Factors

1. Burden on the defendant (BK)
2. Forum state’s interest (McGee)
3. The plaintiff’s interest
4. The legal system’s interest in efficiency
5. The shared substantive polices of the states (Kulko)

Question 90

The Twin Aims of Erie

Answer 90

There are two main objectives of the Erie decision.

1. To discourage forum shopping among litigants and
2. To avoid inequitable administration of the laws.

Erie Doctrine

Question 91

Bar

Answer 91

Bar is claim perclusion if the claimant lost case number one.

Merger is claim perclusion if the claimant won case number one.

Question 92

Full Faith and Credit Clause

Answer 92

This clause addresses the duties that states within the US have to respect the “public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.”

Question 93

Purposeful Availment Doctrine

Answer 93

The due process rule that in order for a party to be subject to personal jurisdiction, that party must have availed itself of at least enough contact with the jurisdiction (i.e. minimum contacts) so as not to offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.

Availment - the act of making use or taking advantage of something for oneself.

Question 94

Default Judgments

Answer 94

1. a judgment entered agaisnt a defendant who has failed to plead or otherwise defend against the plaintiff’s claim.
2. a judgment entered as a penalty against a party who does not comply with an order, especially an order to comply with a discovery request.

Question 95

Punitive Sanctions

Answer 95

A penalty for some legal infraction.

Question 96

Complete Diversity Rule

Answer 96

The Complete Diversity Rule - there is no diversity if any plaintiff is a citizen of the same state as any defendant.

Requires that no plaintiff and no defendant are from the same state in order to get into federal court.

Question 97

General Personal Jurisdiction

Answer 97

A court’s authority to hear a wide range of cases, civil or criminal, that arise within its geographic area.

A court’s authority to hear all claims against a defendant, at the place of the defendant’s domicile or the place of service, without any showing that a connection exists between the claims and the forum state.

Question 98

Primary Rights Theory

Answer 98

This theory is a minotry view/rule.
It does not look at the transaction or occurrence.

This theory looks at the rights invaded. You get a different claim, and therefore different lawsuits, if you want, for your body and for your property.

You might get to sue more than once (body), (property), for something in the same transaction or occurrence.

Question 99

Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA)

Answer 99

A federal statute providing individuals with a right or action against foreign governments, under certain circumstances, to the extent the claim arises from the private, as opposed to the public, acts of the foreign state.

Question 100

Notice of Pendency

Answer 100

The court must give notice to all members reasonably identifiable.

Class action
Representative pays to give notice.

Question 101

Preclusion

Answer 101

The action of preventing someting from happening.

Prevents a party from re-litigating a claim once a court has issued a final judgment on that claim.

A valid and final judgment binds the plaintiff, defendant, and their privies in subsequent actions on different causes of action between them.

Question 102

Issue Preclusion

Answer 102

Issue preclusion means that a valid and final judgment binds the plaintiff, defendant and their privies in subsequent actions on different causes of action between them as to same issues actually litigated and essential to the judgment in the first action.

Question 103

Collateral Estoppel (Issue Preclusion)

Answer 103

1. The binding effect of a judgment as to matters actually litigated and determined in one action on later controversies between the parties involving a different claim from that on which the original judgment was based.
2. A doctrine barring a party from re-litigating an issue determined against that party in an earlier action, even if the second action differed significantly from the first one.

Question 104

Claim Perclusion

Answer 104

Claim perclusion prevents a party from re-litigating a claim once a court has issued a final judgment on that claim.

Question 105

Res Judicata (Claim Preclusion)

Answer 105

1. An issue that has been definitively settled by judicial decision.
2. An affirmative defense barring the same parties from litigating a second lawsuit on the same claim, or any other claim arising from the same transaction or series of transactions and that could have been - but was not- raised in the first suit.

Three elements

1. An earlier decision on the issue
2. A final judgment on the mertis
3. Involvment of the same parties

Question 106

Extraordinary Writ

Answer 106

This is not an appeal.

It is a new separate, independent action at the court of appeals.

A writ is a fancy word for order.

Only issued if the district court judge is acting without or beyond that court’s jurisdiction, or failing to do something that the law requires.

These are very narrow.

Question 107

Interpleader

Answer 107

Interpleader is a form of joinder open to one who does not know to which of several claimants he/she is liable, if liable at all. It permits him/her to bring the claimants into a single action, and to require them to litigate among themselves to determine which, if any, has a valid claim.

Question 108

Interpleader

Answer 108

A suit to determine a right to property held by a usually disinterested third party (called a stakeholder) who is in doubt about ownership and who therefore deposits the property with the court to permit interested parties to litigate ownership.

Typcially, a stakeholder initiates an interpleader both to determine who should receive the property and to avoid multiple liability.

Question 109

Abstention

Answer 109

1. The act of not doing something, especially something enjoyable.
2. The act of not voting for or against something.
3. A federal court’s relinquishment of jurisdiction when necessary to avoid needless conflict with a state’s administration of its own affairs.
4. The legal principle underlying such a relinquishment of jurisdiction.

Question 110

Preliminary Injunction

Answer 110

A temporary injunction issued before or during trail to prevent an irreparable injury from occurring before the court has a chance to decide the case.

A preliminary injunction will be issued only after the defendant receives notice and an opportunity to be heard.

Question 111

Permissive Joinder

Answer 111

The optional joinder of parties if-

1. Their claims or the claims asserted against them are asserted jointly, severally, or in respect of the same transaction or occurrence, and
2. Any legal or factual question common to all of them will arise.

Question 112

Indispensable

Answer 112

If the court decides to dismiss the absentee, it is called indispensable.

A person or entity (such as a corporation) that must be included in a lawsuit in order for the court to render a final judgment.

Question 113

Calder Effects Test

Answer 113

In order for a defenant to be subject to personal jurisdiction under Calder, a defendant must -

1. Commit an intentional act
2. That is expressly aimed at the forum state
3. Causes actual harm that the defendant knows is likely to be suffered in the forum state

Question 114

Asahi Factors

Answer 114

Rule: The majority agrees with the five factor test for “fair play”

1. Burden on the defendant
2. Interests of the forum state
3. Interests of the plaintiff
4. Interstate efficiency
5. Interstate policy interests

Question 115

Compulsory Joinder

Answer 115

The necessary joinder of a party if either of the following is true -

1. In that party’s absence, those already involved in the lawsuit cannot receive complete relief,

or

2. The absent party claims an interest in the subject of an action, so that party’s absence might either impair the protection of that interest or leave some other party subject to multiple or inconsistent obligations.

Question 116

Quasi In Rem Jurisdiction

Answer 116

A legal action based on property rights of a person absent from the jurisdiction.

The state can assert power over an individual simply based on the fact that this individual has property (bank account, debt, share of stock, land) in the state.

Question 117

Equity Clean Up Doctrine

Answer 117

Cleanup doctrine refers to a jurisdictional principle that once a court of equity has acquired jurisdiction over a case, it may decide equitable and legal issues provided that the legal questions are incidental to the equitable ones.

Question 118

Balance of Interests

Answer 118

To determine whetehr a state has the right to exercise its implied police powers although that exercise may be in conflict with a federal law, either statutory or constitutional. The court has held, in these instances, that if a state does enact legislation for the protection and maintenance of the health, safety, or welfare of its citizens, such laws “fall within the most traditional concept of the state’s police powers.” Therefore, even in matters where federal laws take precedence over those of the state, the court has decided in favor of the state.

Question 119

Specific Personal Jurisdiction

Answer 119

Personal jurisdiction that arises out of a defendant’s voluntary contacts with the forum state, i.e., a court’s power to adjudicate matters over parties who lack systematic and continuous contacts with the state if the cause of action arises out of the parties’ contacts with the forum state.

Question 120

General Personal Jurisdiction

Answer 120

Refers to a court’s power to hear cases over an out-of-state party who has extensive, systematic, and continuous dealings with the state in which the court sits.

Question 121

Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause

Answer 121

The provision set forth at Amendment XIV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution prohibiting states from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property by means that are arbitrary or fundamentally unfair.