Professor John Zevalking
Yeazell: Civil Procedure
Introductory Material
Sources of Law
– Constitutional Law:
o Article III: Federal Subject Matter Jurisdiction
§ Creates courts of limited jurisdiction
§ Sets up federal courts, the supreme court, and allows for the development of inferior courts
o Article IV: Full Faith and Credit Clause
§ States honor the judicial proceedings of other states
§ Must be valid judgment (non-ex. Pennoyer)
· the first case must have had jurisdiction
o Article VI: Supremacy Clause
§ The laws of the US are the laws of the land
§ If there is a conflict between state and federal law, federal law wins
o Due Process Clause: 5th Amendment for federal courts, 14th Amendment for state courts
§ No one can deprive a citizen of life, property, or liberty without the due process of law
§ 5th amendment applies to federal court
§ 14th amendment applies to the states
· This made the bill of rights applicable to the states
– Statutes
– Rules of Civil Procedure
o Different in each state, but almost all
Subject Matter Jurisdiction
– how we determine which court hears what type of cases
Personal Jurisdiction
– does the court have the power over the defendant to render a judgment
Question of Venue
– when more then one court can have both personal and subject matter jurisdiction, how do we choose the court
o this is governed by statute
o typically where D resides, or where the bulk of the incident in question occurred.
Overview of the Court System
– Overlapping federal and state courts
– Overlapping federal and state court systems arise from historical roots
– 1787: Constitutional Convention
o Agreed upon USSC
o Gave Congress right to create lower federal courts
o Limited subject matter jurisdiction of federal courts through Article III
– Judiciary Act of 1789: Congress created lower federal courts
– 52 Court Systems
– Federal courts are generally concurrent (not superior)
– Generally 3 Levels
o Original jurisdiction/trial courts-district court
o Appellate (precedent, stare decisis)
o Supreme Court (hears less than 4%)
– Federal Courts are courts of limited jurisdiction
Federal Court
Federal District Courts: Courts of “original jurisdiction” or trial courts (94 judicial districts)
– Diversity Jurisdiction
o Parties from different states (P and D)
o Case has to be worth over $75k (not 75K but over)
§ This is in the pleading of the P
– Federal Question
o Significant issue of federal law that is an essential element of P’s case
o Law arising under the constitution, the laws of the US, or treaties
US courts of appeals
– There are 13
– 11 are geographically based
o Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee are the 6th circuit
§ The US court of appeals for the 6th circuit
– 12th hears appeals from federal district in DC
– 13th jurisdiction determined by subject matter- import, patents
State Court System
– courts of limited or special subject matter jurisdiction
– courts of original and general jurisdiction
– Intermediate appellate court
– Highest appellate court
o Typically the state supreme court
Features of U.S. Civil Procedure
– Follows Adversarial Model of dispute resolution
o Cases are driven by the parties, not the judges-judges are the umpires, the judge sits back and listens and then decides.
o Important for lawyers to know the procedural rules as well as the facts of his own case
– Based on codified rules and statutes
o Civil Procedure is based on rules and statutes, and not common law (like torts, contracts, etc)
– Purpose is to secure just, speedy and inexpensive resolution of disputes
Service of Process: The communication of reasonable notice of a court proceeding to a defendant in order to provide him with an opportunity to be heard
– Attachment is an action against property that would put the owner on notice
Personal Jurisdiction
The power of a given court to issue a judgment that is binding on a person or affects his property.
– You must have PJ for a court to acquire a valid judgment against a person
o Where decisions are rendered by courts lacking jurisdiction, there is no due process
– If a court does not have PJ over a party, any order or judgment that the court may render will not be binding on that party.
– When determining PJ, forget about the P and Look right at the D
– State’s have exclusive jurisdiction and sovereignty over people and property within borders (NOT with people/property outside borders) Pennoyer v. Neff
– The
tact
§ Like specific jurisdiction, only subject to the claim served
· You are not now open for any kind of suit in the forum , just the suit served
– Consent/Waiver
o General Rule: contractual consent to jurisdiction will typically trump procedural rules for personal jurisdiction
§ They are, however, subject to scrutiny for fundamental fairness
· They must not be a bad faith attempt to discourage pursuit of legitimate claims
· Consent must not be obtained through fraud or overreaching
· K’ing party must have notice of clause and the option to reject with impunity (creating a reasonable bargaining power)
o In Carnival, they did not have notice until after they paid and received the ticket. If the ticket was non-refundable, this could help to render it invalid.
o Actual Consent must be real and knowing
§ You can consent to jurisdiction through a Forum Selection Clause
§ You can consent to jurisdiction by designating an agent for service of process
o Implied Consent is rolled into the minimum contacts analysis.
o Other contractual clauses that affect procedure:
§ Choice of law clauses
· Burger king case, this is the law that applies, you can bring suit where you want but have to use this law.
§ Consent-to-jurisdiction clauses
· The parties consent to jurisdiction in this particular court. It doesn’t mean you can’t take it elsewhere but if it comes here you have to do it here.
§ Arbitration clauses
· Alternative dispute resolution, take court out of litigation system and put it in arbitration.
§ Cognovit clauses
· Appears in promissory notes, between a lender and a corporate party, it says if the obligations set in the note aren’t paid then judgment can be against the debtor without notice, hearing-basically if you don’t pay we can get judgment against you and you can’t defend.
· Prohibited in many states and will not be on the exam.
