Subject Matter JurisdictionEverything in State Courts Except' ' '

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Subject Matter JurisdictionEverything in State
Courts Except. . .

• Civil cases in federal courts
• Federal questionsome exclusively federal, some
  concurrent
• Ancillary or pendent
• Diversity of citizenship 75KWhy put these in
  federal courts?
• Some twists on diversity
• Multiple Pls and/or multiple Dfs
• Corporations

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Personal jurisdiction

• The frame of reference--forum state
• Reason for the rules?
• How does a court get personal juris?
• Resident defendants
• Nonresident defendants
• Substantial contacts
• Rules usually the same in state federal ct.

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More on Personal Jurisdiction

• Df. can waive the right to challenge p.j., but
  not s.m.j.
• Not making the challenge early enough
• Contractexpress consent or forum selection
  clause
• Other, related matters that can be affected by
  contract
• Choice of law
• Arbitrationessentially waives the right to go to
  court

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More on P.J.Nonresident Dfs Longarm Statutes

• Remember substantial contacts.
• Why?
• Two situations
• Specific personal jurisdiction over
  non-resident
• General personal jurisdiction over non-resident

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Nonresident Dfs Longarm Statutes, continued

• Pavlovich v. Superior Court, p. 29
• FactsPl. movie industry sued guy from Indiana
  Texas in CA
• Why do you think the Pl. didnt argue that
  general p.j. existed?
• Specific p.j.
• Murky effects testcourts sometimes mention it,
  but it doesnt seem to be very important
  anymoreignore it.
• (1) Purposeful availment, (2) dispute arose out
  of . . ., (3) fair play substantial justice.

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More on the Pavlovich case

• Did Pavovich purposefully avail himself. . .?
• Why or why not?
• Did the dispute arise out of his contacts with
  CA? Or was the dispute related to his contacts
  with CA?
• Why or why not?
• The third questionfair play and justiceis
  essentially answered by the first two.
• What are the different scenarios in which the
  Internet creates issues regarding p.j.

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Other Examples of Nonresident Dfs and Longarm
Statutes

• NFL v. Miller, fed. district court, NY 2000
• Miller operated web site in CA, NFL sued him in
  NY federal court. Why federal court? Did that
  change the p.j. issue?
• NFLhad two teams in the NYC/NJ area
• Dfs web site provided info. about sporting
  events, advertisements, and links to advertisers.
  
• Some of the advertisers were sports bookies.
• A lot of people in the NY/NJ area used the site
  to bet on NFL games.
• Conclusion?

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Other Examples of Nonresident Dfs and Longarm
Statutes

• World-Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson (S.Ct. 1981).
• Plaintiffs bought an Audi automobile in New York.
  Later, while moving to Arizona, they were
  involved in a serious collision in Oklahoma when
  the Audi caught fire after being struck from
  behind. Filing in Oklahoma, Ps sued the New York
  retailer from whom they had purchased the car,
  and the wholesaler who had provided the car to
  the retailer. (They also sued the manufacturer
  and importer, but that was settled.) The
  retailer and wholesaler moved to dismiss,
  claiming that because they sold cars only in New
  York, an Oklahoma court could not validly
  exercise long-arm jurisdiction over them. Pls
  claimed that it had been foreseeable to a
  reasonable dealer that the car might end up in
  Oklahoma. Did the Okla. court have p.j. over the
  NY dealer wholesaler? Why or why not?

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Other Examples of Nonresident Dfs and Longarm
Statutes

• Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia v. Hall
  (S.Ct. 1984).
• Pls were the surviving family members of 4 U.S.
  citizens who worked for a Peruvian pipeline co.
  (A Texas-based joint venture re-created under
  Peruvian law.) The Peruvian co. contracted with
  a Colombian corporation that provided helicopter
  transport services to fly employees to from
  work sites. Crash. Pls sued Colombian co. in
  Texas, claiming negligence (pilot error and/ or
  improper maintenance). Df moved to dismiss for
  lack of p.j.
• Dfs contacts w/ Texas (a) at the Peruvian
  companys request, Dfs CEO had flown to Houston
  to negotiate the contract (b) from 1970-1977, Df
  bought 4 million in helicopters and parts in
  Fort Worth (c) Df had sent some pilots and
  technicians to Texas for training and (d) Df
  received more than 5 million in payments into
  its New York and Florida bank accounts from
  checks drawn on the Peruvian companys Houston
  bank account.
• Is this a specific p.j. scenario? What about
  general p.j. Did the TX court have p.j. over
  the Colombian df?

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Related Stuff

• In rem jurisdiction over property
• Ex Dell v. DellKorea.com
• Venue in civil cases
• State courts
• Federal courts
• Conflict of laws (assuming no choice of law
  clause in contract)
• Law equity