Civil Procedure I Outline

I.                  Introduction to the Federal Court System: New York Times v. Sullivan
 
Personal Jurisdiction-jurisdiction over the people involved in the case-must be fair and reasonable to force the parties to the appropriate court
 
Subject/Matter Jurisdiction-
 
Removal-allow defendants to move case from state to federal if it passed federal jurisdiction test
 
Jurisdiction:
Personal Jurisdiction (PJ)
Subject Matter Jurisdiciton (SMJ)
 
State courts have general SMJ
Federal courts have limited SMJ
 
Federal Questions-look at what the plaintiff has alleged in the complaint
Diversity-requires that the citizenship of the parties must be diverse/of different states
 
PJ-allows us to ask whether it is fair to bring this suit in this district
PJ asks-Does the court have the authority?
 
Standard of Review by Appellate Court
1)De Nova-a new/look at trial court’s question of law/determine if they answered it correctly
2)Clear Error-questions of fact/but must be clearly erroneous
3)Abuse of Discretion-this does not happen very often/claim that the judge erred in his discretion
 
II.               Personal Jurisdiction
 
Jurisdiciton-the power to declare law
            *authority to adjudicate a particular case or make a judgment that other courts will recognize
 
            Origin of Jurisdiction
1.      14th amendment
Section #1 Due Process Clause (DPC)
2.      Article III-establishes court system
3.      Article IV-full faith and credit-forces lower courts to recognize decisions from higher courts that had proper jurisdiction
 
Pennoyer v. Neff
            What entails whether or not there is PJ?
1.      presence in the state
2.      holding property in the state
Notice/Power distinction
 
International Shoe Co. v. Washington