Civil Procedure Outline
Jurisdiction Over The Parties or Their Property
I. The Traditional Basis for Jurisdiction
A. Pennoyer v. Neff (1877) Power Theory
1. Rule: Every state possesses exclusive jurisdiction and sovereignty over persons and property within its territory; therefore, the courts of that state may enter a binding judgment against a non-resident only if he is personally served with process while within the state, or, if he has property within the state, if that property is attached before litigation begins
a. Full Faith and Credit
2. Reasoning: In a Quasi In Rem action such as this, you must attach land at the beginning of the lawsuit, usually on the same day you file, because you need to establish jurisdiction before the suit can go on.
3. Types of Jurisdiction
a. Quasi In Rem – This action is against the land in order to establish jurisdiction and to have something to recover, but it pertains to something other than the land, like lawyer’s fees
b. In Rem – This action is against the actual property, real or personal, and is solely about who has ownership over that property.
i. Both QIR and IR actions have limited award amounts, the limit being the land itself, of the value of it.
c. In Personam – This action is against the person and the awards are not limited, and the judgment can be enforced anywhere that the person has property.
4. Ways to Get Jurisdiction
a. Residence – The person is a citizen of the forum state. This is IP and the reason is that if you are a citizen of that state you get receive benefits from that state, so it is legitimate for a citizen to accept liability in that state
b. Location – The person is in the state at the time that he is personally served. This is IP and the reason is that the state has power over people in that state and that person is subject to the rules of that state.
c. Property – The property inside the state is attached by posting. This is IR or QIR because courts are sovereign over land in their state and because if a person has land in that state, the lands is subject to the laws of that state and the owner should know when his land has been attached.
d. Consent – implied (Hess) and explicit (Kane)
5. The Role of the Constitution in Establishing Jurisdiction
a. Full Faith and Credit Clause – “Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records and judicial precedin
”.
Adam v. Saenger (1938) – When a plaintiff brings suit in a forum with which she has no other connection, that forum should be able to entertain suit against the plaintiff. “There is nothing in the 14th Amendment to prevent a state from adopting a procedure by which a judgment in personam may be rendered in a cross-action against a plaintiff in its courts, upon service of process or of appropriate pleading upon his attorney of record. The plaintiff having, by his voluntary act in demanding justice from the defendant, submitting himself to the jurisdiction of the court, there is nothing arbitrary or unreasonable in treating him as being there for all purposes for which justice to the defendant requires his presence. It is the price which the state may exact as the condition of opening its courts to the plaintiff.” – Supreme Court (Quote from Civ Pro book, p. 70) If you file a suit in a state in which you have no other connection, you can be sued in that state.
