Civil Procedure I Outline

Civil Procedure – Paulsen Fall 2015

1) Introduction

a) Litigation is a funnel, lots of cases are filed less survive as the steps go on

i) Jury verdict cases = .4%

ii) 60.9% are settled before they even reach summary judgment

b) Where can a suit be brought?

(1) Where subject matter, personal jurisdiction and venue meet

(a) Authority over a particular type of suit

(b) Authority over the people involved

(c) Where within the jurisdiction a suit can be brought

(2) Every state has a set of trial courts = courts of original jurisdiction

c) Madison’s Judicial Compromise

i) Article 3 section 1

(1) The judicial power of the US shall be vested in one SC, and in such inferior courts as the congress may from time to time establish

(2) Congress can decide to have no federal trial court’s or to set the scope of the TC’s juris. Very small.

(3) The Judiciary Act of 1789

(a) First congress favored a strong national government so they went ahead and made the TC and gave them broad jurisdiction.

(i) War Chief Little Turtle

(4) The Jurisdiction for the Supreme Court is set by the Constitution though, and so it cannot be dictated by Congress

ii) Article 3 Section 2

(1) The judicial power shall extend to all cases…

(a) Sets the Constitutional jurisdiction of the federal courts

(b) But the Congress can limit this for trial courts as they please

(c) Of the 9 types of cases listed, the two most common are “arising under” (the Federal Question) and diversity jurisdiction.

(i) Third is U.S. as a litigant

(2) The SC has held that Art 3 gives power to the federal courts to hear these cases but does not exclude state courts = concurrent jurisdiction

(a) Congress may determine that a certain category of federal cases may only be heard in federal court

d) Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

i) Congress has delegated to SCOTUS the power to enact court rules governing matters of procedure in the federal courts that Congress has not ruled on

ii) Have the force of statute

iii) There are also local rules of federal district courts

e) A Description of the Litigation Process and Sources of Proc. Law

i) The Pleading Phase

(1) The Complaint

(a) After filing the complaint in court, the Plaintiff must serve process on the Defendant

(2) The Answer

ii) Early Motion Practice

(1) Bring up subject matter or personal jurisdiction here

(2) Failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted

iii) Discovery Phase

iv) Judicial Conferences

v) Motions for Summary Judgment

vi) Trial

(1) Voir Dire

(2) Judgment as a matter of law

(3) Judgment

vii) Post-Trial Motions

viii) Appeal

f) Claim preclusion = res judica, prohibits from suing again on the same claim if the first case was decided after a full opportunity to reach the merits

2) Subject Matter Jurisdiction

a) General

i) Capron v Van Noorden

(1) One of the first cases on Diversity Jurisdiction

(2) To have juris. In federal courts you must have two different states

(3) Defendant never asked where he was from so the case can be dismissed on behalf of plaintiff even though the filing was his error

(a) This never happens, but the court allowed it because they wanted to set the scope of the federal district courts

(4) This case is important because SCOTUS wanted to make sure the Fed district courts did not extend their power, people were scared of the extent of power these courts might have

(5) Three rules of appellate practice

(a) Don’t correct mistakes unless substantial wrong that hurts/ substantially effects t