Personal JDX Flashcards
Personal Jurisdiction
Personal Jurisdiction grants the court the power to require a specific party to appear before it in regards to a specific claim or matter.
What are the three types of Personal Jurisdiction?
1) In Personam
2) In Rem
3) Quasi-In Rem
What are the traditional basis’s of In Personam Jurisdiction?
A court traditionally has personal jurisdiction over a party either:
1) The party is domiciled in the forum state
2) The party is served in the forum state; OR
3) The party consents to personal jurisdiction
What can a court do to hold Personal Jurisdiction over a party when it does not hold such jurisdiction through the traditional basis?
Look at the State’s Long Arm Statute! For the purposes of the bar, we usually apply the statute to permit personal jurisdiction to the fullest extent constitutionally permissible under Due Process.
What is the In Personam “long arm” test as permitted by Due Process?
1) Minimum Contacts
2) Relatedness Factors
3) Fair Play and Substantial Justice
What is the minimum contacts test?
- Did the party purposefully avail itself to the forum state?
- Was it foreseeable for the party to be sued in the forum state based on it’s availment?
What is the “relatedness” test?
- General Jurisdiction: Applicable when the party’s affiliations with the forum state are continuous and systematic as to render the party “at home” in the state
- Specific Jurisdiction: When the cause of action arises out of or closely relates to the defendant’s conduct with the forum state.
What factors are considered in the fair play and substantial justice test?
- Burden on defendant to appear & defend in forum state
- Forum state’s interest
- Interstate judicial system’s interest in obtaining most efficient resolution of disputes
- Interest of several states in furthering fundamental substantive social policies
How may the minimum contacts of a subsidiary be imputed onto it’s parent corporation?
When the subsidiary is acting as the parent corporation’s agent or alter ego.
But in the absence of such evidence, each corporation is a separate legal entity.
Does a parent’s corporation controlling financial interest in a subsidiary’s company be enough to warrant minimum contacts?
NO! Unless the subsidiary is acting as the parent corp’s agent or alter ego.
When the court has SMJ through Federal Question, how may Personal Jurisdiction be exercised?
The service of a summons in a federal action establishes personal jurisdiction over a defendant “who is subject to the jurisdiction of a court of general jurisdiction in the state where the district court is located.”
TIP: An MBE question will likely tell you whether or not a defendant was subject to service of process under he laws of the forum state.
How does a court have Personal JDX in an In Rem action?
In an in rem action, the forum court generally has personal jurisdiction over a defendant when the dispute centers on ownership of property located in the forum state.
Does a party waive an objection to Personal Jurisdiction if they file an answer?
Under the federal rules (Rule 12), a defendant may raise the defense of lack of personal jurisdiction in a pre-answer motion to dismiss or, if no pre-answer motion to dismiss is made, in her answer.
The filing of an answer does not subject a defendant to the personal jurisdiction of the court if the defendant’s answer raises the defense of lack of personal jurisdiction.
In Personum JDX: Fair Play and Substantial Justice
Must determine if maintenance of action, absent minimum contacts, would offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.
1) Interest in forum state
2) Burden on defendant of appearing in case
3) Interest of judicial system in efficient resolution of controversies
4) Shared interests of the states in promoting common social policies
ESSAY TIP: Is it foreseeable for a corporation to be sued in a state where it has employees in?
Yes!
