Subject matter JDX Flashcards
Federal Courts are courts of limited
Subject Matter Jurisdiction
Subject Matter Jurisdiction cannot be waived and can be
raised by any party at any time
There are two ways to obtain subject matter jurisdiction over a case
1) Federal Question
2) Diversity Jurisdiction
A Federal court has no jurisdiction over
Probate or domestic relations cases
In order for a court to obtain Federal Question Jurisdiction
A federal claim must appear on the face of the plaintiff’s well pleaded complaint
Only the ______ claims count for determining federal question jurisdiction
Plaintiffs
(A defendant’s counterclaim that is based in federal law does not bring a case within federal question jurisdiction)
There are 2 requirements for a federal court to have diversity jurisdiction
1) There must be complete diversity at the time of the suit; and
2) The amount in controversy must exceed 75,000
Complete diversity means that
Every plaintiff is from a different state than every defendant
(Not every P has to be diverse from every P and every D does not have to be diverse from every D
There are 3 exceptions that allow a court to have diversity jurisdiction without complete diversity
1) Federal interpleader act
2) Class actions with at least 100 class members and claims worth more than 5 million
3) Interstate mass torts if at least 75 people died
When will a court dismiss lack of a amount in controversy
When it appears to a legal certainty that the claim will cannot exceed the amount in controversy
To exceed the amount in Controversy The plaintiffs claim must be made in
1) good faith
2) Exceed 75,000
The citizenship of a party depends on
Whether the party is a human or a entity
Individuals that are U.S. citizens are citizens of
The state they are domiciled in
A domicile is
1) The individual’s place of permanent residence +
2) The intent to remain there indefinitely
For a alien of a foreign country, diversity jurisdiction
exists
An alien that is a U.S. Permanent Resident is treated as a citizen of
The state he is domiciled in
Generally, the citizenship of representatives control. However,
When a case is about litigation of a decedent’s estate, a minor, or incompetent person, the citizenship of that relevant person controls
The citizenship of class actions is determined by
The citizenship of the named or representative parties.
The citizenship of corporations is
1) The state that they are incorporated ; and
2) There their principal place of business (executive offices) is located
The citizenship of of partnerships is
A partnership is a citizen in which its partners are citizens (applies to limited partnership, trade associations, and unions)
Moving is permitted even if it is done with the purpose of affecting diversity so long as
the change in domicile is real
Assignment of a claim is permitted so long as
The assignment is 1) Complete and 2) for value
A partial assignment for debt collection does
not effect citizenship if the assignor retains an interest in the claim
D
Diversity is determined when
The case is filed
A partial assignment for debt collection does
not effect citizenship if the assignor retains an interest in the claim
In Diversity cases, impleader claims come
Within the courts SMJ, citizenship of the parties does not matter. Only extends to claims made by D to third party D
