Civil Procedure
Cluster 1 = Jurisdiction
1) Does the court have subject matter jurisdiction?
Article III of the Constitution
· Federal Question Jurisdiction = P’s cause of action must “arise under” the Constitution, treaties, or laws of the United States (28 U.S.C. §1331)
o Federal Courts are courts of limited jurisdiction
o Look at the P’s cause of action, not a defense
o Must be in a well-pleaded complaint
o If not, goes to a state court
o No jurisdictional amount requirement here
o Some MUST go to a federal court (copyright act, patent act, etc.) (exclusive FQJ)
o Certain other cases can go either to a federal or state court (choice of P, subject to removal, concurrent FQJ)
· Diversity of Citizenship Jurisdiction = Need to have citizens of different states
o 28 U.S.C. §1332(a) = citizens of different states (or foreign states)
o Created so there wouldn’t be a bias based on location
o Need to have complete diversity of citizenship (no state can be on the left and the right of the v.)
o We determine citizenship on the day of the institution of the action
o Citizenship is determined by domicile (if you go to another state, you need intention to remain in that state for the indefinite future)
o 1332(c)(1) = Corporations have 2 citizenships, state of incorporation and state in which state has its principle place of business
§ For insurance company, add state of insured
§ 2 rules that courts use to determine principle place of business
· Nerve center test (where headquarters are)
· Muscle test (where most manufacturing, etc. is done)
o With unincorporated association (like law firm), add up all the states for citizenship
o Parties in representative actions, use citizenship of representative (but opposite with infants, incompetents, and estates under 1332(c)(2))
o Under 1332(a), amount in controversy requirement is now more than $75,000 exclusive of interests and costs (but punitive damages and statutory attorney’s fees do count)
§ A single party can aggregate all the money from all the claims made
§ But you can’t aggregate money from multiple parties (Ds or Ps)
§ Unless court is convinced to a “legal certainty” that P cannot recover the amount, it is okay
§ When dealing with injunction, or other stuff you can’t put a price tag on, you estimate the value to the P
2) Does the court have personal jurisdiction?
You need to have personal jurisdiction over ALL defendants
Rule 4(k)(1) = same analysis for federal and state courts
Is there a traditional base of jurisdiction?
Physically in the state (territoriality)
Pennoyer v. Neff = state is all-powerful within its borders, a state is helpless outside of its borders (territoriality)
Burnam v. Superior Court = pure territorial jurisdiction still alive from Pennoyer
Example = fly from NY to Hawaii, stop in CA, can you be served? No minimum contacts here, nothing to do with CA, but Burnham says Yes
But if not voluntary, then it’s different
Only for people, not for corporations
Domicile in the state or doing business in the state (general in personam jurisdiction)
“Substantial and continuous contacts”
For corporation, certainly state of incorporation and principle place of business, although other states could be too (like owning or renting property and having employees in the state)
Base jurisdiction on consent, express (like in a contract) or implied, or waived
Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. v. Shute = forum selection clause (contractual)
Hypo: parties contract for forum unrelated to either of them or to the transaction in question
You can do this, you have notice and consent (can use specific performance under contract)
But not if it’s bad faith (use Alaska in boilerplate and be sneaky about it)
You can contract away your constitutional rights
If there is no traditional base, does the long-arm statute apply (statutory analysis)?
If long-arm applies, is its application constitutional under the due process clause?
International Shoe Corp. v. State of Washington = “a state can assert jurisdiction
personam)
General jurisdiction = claim isn’t related to the defendant’s contacts with the forum state
Ongoing relationship with the forum (continuous and systematic activities), so it is not unfair to assert jurisdiction even when dispute does not relate to the forum
How can defendant challenge personal jurisdiction?
Direct attack by “special appearance” (won’t submit to jurisdiction by appearing)
BUT cannot raise any other issue, or else there will be jurisdiction
Can do this now with 12(b)(2) and can raise other objections too (like 12(b)(6))
Must do it at the outset, can’t wait until later (like with subject matter jurisdiction)
Collateral attack = ignore it, have default judgment, then have P come to your state to collect
Have a “judgment on the judgment”
Exception to Full Faith and Credit = a state can question jurisdiction of other state ruling
Risky though, since you won’t get to argue the case on the merits
Supplemental jurisdiction (28 U.S.C. 1367) = a federal court can hear a claim that would normally come under the jurisdiction of a state court if it is related to a claim already before that court
You can tack on common law claim if both claims come from the same case or controversy (common nucleus of operative fact)
(b) codifies Owen Equipment and Erection Co. v. Kroger, = in diversity cases, claims brought by plaintiffs require complete diversity of parties for parties coming from rules 14, 19, 20, and 24
Counterclaim by P (against parties under 14, 19, 20, and 24) is questionable (maybe not)
(c) says it is discretionary, court does not have to take supplemental jurisdiction (like when the state claim is the guts of the action)
