PERSONAL JURISDICTION
Analyzing PJ requires a two-step analysis, which makes sure these two things are satisfied
State Statute and Constitution
State Courts can hear any kind of case because they have this type of subject matter jurisdiction.
General
A human "resides" in this district for purposes of venue.
The district where the human is domiciled.
Unless a court order or stipulation of the parties says otherwise, each party has this number of days to submit its initial disclosures.
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ALL ABOARD! Unlike state court, a jury's verdict in federal court must be:
Unanimous
This type of jurisdiction, analyzed under the "relatedness" factor of the Constitutional analysis, arises when the defendant is "at home" in the forum state
General Jurisdiction
Complete diversity and amount in controversy exceeds $75,000
To establish proper venue, the plaintiff may bring the case in any district that satisfies one of these two requirements
1. All defendant's reside in the district/state (if all Defendants are in State B, plaintiff can choose the precise district in the state to lay venue)
2. A substantial part of the valid arose there
Anything RELEVANT to a claim/defense AND PROPORTIONAL to the needs of the use satisfy the standard for this:
The scope of discovery
Judges decide equitable claims and juries decide all facts underlying the damages claim. What is the order that the claims are decided in when a party asserts a claim for damages AND for equitable relief
Jury issues are tried FIRST and equitable claims are tried after. (This is because the judge MUST accept all of the jury's fact-finding when deciding the equitable claim)
This factor of the Constitutional analysis test is only analyzed if there is specific jurisdiction over the defendant, and involves analyzing the burden on the defendant, the state's interest, and the plaintiff's interest
Fairness
DAILY DOUBLE:
To establish a new domicile, these two things must be satisfied:
1. Presence in new place AND
2. Intent to make that your home for the foreseeable future
Not a negligence action, but the analysis is pretty similar!
A federal court will enforce a forum selection clause, as long as it is not:
Unreasonable
There are generally two types of privilege that may be asserted to prevent a party from obtaining discovery : 1) work product; and 2) attorney-client privilege.
For a document to be considered work product, it must be prepared in this type of manner
Anticipation of litigation
(There is QUALIFIED work product and ABSOLUTE WORK PRODUCT
Qualified work product may be discoverable if there is a SUBSTANTIAL NEED and the evidence is NOT OTHERWISE AVAILABLE
Absolute work product may not be discoverable, and generally includes any OPINION-based work product (mental impressions, opinions, conclusion, and legal theories)
A judge will grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) if the moving party can establish this standard:
Reasonable people could not disagree on the result
(JMOL motions can only be made AFTER THE OTHER SIDE HAS BEEN HEARD AT TRIAL)
(JMOL motions are similar to summary judgment in that the court views evidence in a light favorable to the non-moving party, BUT JMOL motions are made AT TRIAL and SJ motions are made BEFORE TRIAL)
For the defendant to establish the forum is not fair, the third factor of the Constitutional analysis, the defendant must show she is put in this position regarding the litigation at hand. How Intensely Unfair of a question!
Severe disadvantage
Arise under federal law
When the original district is an IMPROPER venue, the federal court can undertake one of these two actions regarding the pending litigation
1. Transfer in the interest of justice
2. Dismiss the matter
(Courts will generally try to transfer the case if possible. When the court does so, the transferee court [the one the case is going to] applies the choice-of-law rules of the state in which IT SITS in a diversity case)
A party MUST identifiy an expert witness if the expert witness will be serving this function
Used at the actual trial (otherwise, the expert is a consulting expert and the facts/opinions of a consulting expert are ONLY discoverable in EXCEPTIONAL circumstances)
A party may make a MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL within this many days AFTER judgment
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Purposeful availment (contact results from defendant's voluntary act) AND
Foreseeability (Foreseeable defendant could be sued in the forum)
1. Plaintiff's viewpoint (The plaintiff's property value will be increased by more than $75,000)
2. Defendant's viewpoint (The injunction would cost the defendant more than $75,000 to comply with)
If the original district is PROPER or if the Court applies forum non-conveniens, the Court will analyze 5 factors -- some of which are private and some of which are public.
1. What LAW applies
2. What community should be BURDENED with JURY duty
3. The desire to keep a LOCAL CONTROVERSY local
4. Existence of a FORUM Selection clause
5. Where the evidence and witnesses are located
There are four things each party MUST disclose after the Rule 26(f) conference. The last two are: 3) a COMPUTATION of the monetary relief sought supported by documents and 4) any INSURANCE coverage that may cover part of the judgment. These other factors are the first two:
1. Identities of persons with discoverable information that YOU may use to support YOUR claims or defense
AND
2. Documents and things YOU may use to support YOUR claims / defenses
Clerical error,
mistake, fraud, misrepresentation,
new evidence that could not have been discovered with due diligence, and
void judgments (court had no SMJ) are all examples of grounds for this type of motion
Motion for relief from order or judgment