Chapter 2.doc

Court systems 52 court systems 50 state courts, the federal court, and DC basic requirements jurisdiction (power over the person, over the property, over subject matter) jurisdiction over the person (in personam) residents of the state anyone who can legally be served in the state with a summons long arm jurisdiction permits courts to exercise jurisdiction over non-residents of the state defendant must have minimum contacts with the state if the defendant is a person injure someone in the state form or breach a contract in the state come into the state regularly to do business if the defendant is a business do business in the state advertise or sell products in the state place goods in the stream of commerce with the expectation they will be purchased by residents of the state jurisdiction over the property (in rem in disputes where property is the subject matter of the controversy property must be within the courts jurisdiction allows the party to file an action against a non resident personally in a court that can exercise jurisdiction over the non-res? property (you will ALWAYS have a non resident in an ?in rem? case) ex: in probate court, you will open the probate in every state the deceased owns property subject matter jurisdiction courts of general jurisdiction hear all different kinds of cases (criminal, civil, divorce, etc.) courts of limited jurisdiction only hear certain cases (federal, bankruptcy, probate, etc) the dollar amount is 5000 or less in a small claims court original vs appellate jurisdiction original jurisdiction is where a case is heard the first time appellate jurisdiction is reviewing the lower cout jurisdiction of the federal courts federal question: does it come from federal sources? (counstitution, federal case law, statutes, regulations, etc) arises between citizens of different states a foreign government and citizen of a state or different states amount in controversy must exceed 75,000 a corporation is a citizen of a state where it is incorporated and of the state in which its principal place of headquarters is located concurrent jurisdiction is when both federal courts and state courts have power exclusive jurisdiction is when only one has power federal- bankruptcy, patents, copyrights state- divorce, adoptions venue general rule is the most appropriate county venue is where defendant resides or where the cause of action occurred court can still hear the case even if the venue isn?t proper the venue can change for the interest of justice or for convenience standing you must have both stake and justiciable controversy stake- only you can sue for your sake, not others justiciable controversy- the argument must be real, not hypothetical alternate dispute resolution negotiation don?t need an attorney mediation a mediator is completely unrelated parties reach agreement themselves mediator helps evaluate each parties positions arbitration third party (arbitrator) hears suit and decides the issues may be binding arbitrartor is like a judge if arbitration is in a contract you may be bound to the arbitration outcome