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Today’s Lecture: Jurisdiction and Goals 1. Jurisdiction and the game of “forum shopping” 2. Legal goals and their procedural structure

Lecture Organization: • Class Announcements • More about the paper • Brief Review • Getting Perspective • Federal Court Jurisdiction • Forum Shopping • Structuring Goals and Remedies Time

Class Announcements • 1. First quiz posted tonight • -- 7 days to take it • -- assigned readings and the lectures • 2. Steelers are still awesome • 3. answering student questions • -- example: “when is the quiz?” • -- students are charged with course knowledge when lectures are online • -- there is no such thing in my class as “I wasn’t here.” That is not only NOT an excuse, it is no longer TRUE.

Class Announcements • 3. Comment repository on online lectures …. • -- take a look: MyWebsite Questions? Time

More about the paper • 1. neglected to emphasize something important • -- subject comparison and contrast • (you want to pick subjects that either make for a good comparison, or, at the very least, are not clones of one another) • Interview Paper (example): • prosecutor and a defense lawyer • Injury lawyer and an insurance defense lawyer

More about the paper • Observation Paper: • -- magistrate and trial court hearings • -- appellate court and trial court (difficult) • -- jury versus a bench trial? • 2. Start lining up your subjects. Procrastination kills. Questions? Time

Review 1. The trial court and its power over the record 2. Appellate courts and their power over a form of law called “precedent” 3. Basic structure of the judiciary 4. Magistrate, petty and “recordless” courts 5. State versus federal court system 6. Court culture Time

Let’s Get Some Perspective • 1. We are in the process of learning the rules of monopoly … • 2. Being presented with temporal organization ..

Procedure organized by chronological sequence What Court? Pretrial practice What For? Pleadings Trial Appeal Getting information Settling Cases Frivolous or deficient cases Right paperwork Type of Case, Remedy Court structure, Organization and Culture Jurisdiction and Strategy Time

Jurisdiction • 1. What is jurisdiction? • -- the power of the Court to hear a case • 2. There are many kinds of cases that can be filed – • juvenile, divorce, injury, criminal, misdemeanor, felony, bankruptcy, contracts, small claims, big claims, etc., etc. • 3. There are rules that determine what court can hear what case. • … let’s first look at the state system

State Court Trial Jurisdiction Supreme Court Intermediate Appellate Court Court of General Jurisdiction – Handles everything not specifically taken away. Trial Court Felony Trials Bigger Civil Cases Specialized Courts Family Court– (state system) Juvenile Court– (state system) Magistrate or city courts Misdemeanors Smaller civil cases

Jurisdiction • 4. Federal Court Jurisdiction … • -- Federal courts do not hear family law matters • -- there are two basic kinds of federal court jurisdiction • -- very simple: federal courts hear any case that alleges a violation of federal law Federal Question Answer: No, they are not in the same kind of relationship that magistrate court is with the trial court Question: What kinds of cases do federal courts handle? Answer: No, not really. Parties to cases do not have to cross state borders before a federal court can hear the case Question: Do they handle only the most important cases in the country? Question: Do they handle only cases concerning interstate subject matter?

… This is what courts are for! “Federal Question” jurisdiction simply means hearing a case that alleges someone broke one of “Uncle Sam’s” rules. Jud Leg Exec State Jud Leg Exec Adjudicate state law violations Federal Govt Pass Laws • Constitutional violation • (e.g., Abortion) • Federal criminal law • Discrimination • (Civil Rights Act) Question: Give me an example of a federal question … Adjudicate fed law violations Pass Laws

Jurisdiction • -- However, there is a SECOND kind of federal court jurisdiction • -- very strange invention • -- you can IMPORT a state law claim into the federal system if … • -- the claim appears to be worth $75,000 or more • -- not a family law matter; and • … COMPLETE diversity of citizenship Diversity Jurisdiction Question: Anyone know what it is? Question: How does it work?

= “sues” What if John and Sally are the plaintiffs? State-A State-B John No diversity Still no diversity Sally Bob Complete diversity Complete diversity: all the plaintiffs are from one state, all the defendants are from another If any of the defendants are from plaintiff states, you do not have complete diversity

… Major question If each government has its own court system … Question: Why are we allowing one government to import another’s rule violations? Jud Leg Exec State Jud Leg Exec Adjudicate state law violations Federal Govt Pass Laws Adjudicate fed law violations Pass Laws Avoid “home court advantage” Time

Forum Shopping • 1. Consider these hypotheticals … • -- out of state corporation injures a local citizen • (e.g., a Coke truck hits a little girl in the city street) • -- injuries are particularly severe • grandma is walking across the street • -- hit by a drunk, out-of-state student • -- she dies Out-of-state corporation Question: Does the fact that the judge lives in the community affect anything?? Question: What attitudes might the judge have about this case and why? Question: How does the community feel about this behavior? Question: Where is the jury pool going to be drawn from? Out-of-state DUI student

Forum Shopping • 2. Diversity jurisdiction is designed to give out-of-state litigants a chance to have a more balanced forum • (side point: notice that if the adversary system worked like a crystal ball, you wouldn’t need to have this concern) • 3. Is this the end of the story, however? • -- just sue someone from the home state, too • The bar who served the student??? • The state or city planners who constructed the intersection (negligent design) • [note: tell story of West Virginia intersection]. • [Mention how safe everything looks around here. Cross walks are like end zones]. illustration Normal intersection Question: Who else might we accuse of being responsible for these injuries? Question: How might good legal preparation defeat this rule?

Forum Shopping • negligent snow removal? Failure to police speeders? Cross walk signal not audible? • University? • -- the location of the busses blocked the view • -- carelessness in where to designate bus stops • -- poor lighting on the university side of College Ave. • POINT: find a good faith allegation that you can invent against another in-state defendant, and you have secured yourself “home court advantage” • -- this is perfectly legal, and good plaintiffs lawyers will do it if it is reasonably possible Question: What does this have to do with getting at the truth? Notice: Your midterm cometh!

Forum Shopping • 4. Let’s consider the differences between the two fora • state court judges and motions for summary judgment • -- more likely to be denied (good for the plaintiffs bar) • federal court jury pool is larger (better for diversity, if that helps your case) • federal court settlement conference procedures are different • POINT: a good lawyer will evaluate this before picking a state or federal forum • -- this is called “forum shopping”

Forum Shopping • 5. “Duplicity in legal cause” • -- where the federal sovereign and the state sovereign have the same or similar laws. • (the state and federal law prohibits the same thing) • Civil Rights Laws • POINT: before you file, you are going to do a strategic assessment • -- jury pool better in feds or state? [mention rural county attitudes] • -- which law is potentially more advantageous? [punitive damages, attorney fees] Question: Someone give me an example of this. Question: Let’s say you are a victim of discrimination, which court are you going to file in, and why?. Question: What does this have to do with the truth? Note that this has nothing to do with diversity jurisdiction!

Forum Shopping • 6. “Multiple Adjudication” • -- if two sovereigns have the same laws, can you try the same case TWICE (once in each forum)? • Example: drug laws • -- same “transaction and occurrence” • “separate sovereign rule” • -- different sovereigns, same crime, does not violate double jeopardy Criminal Rule Careful! Old case

Forum Shopping • -- “Cooperative federalism” • (divide up the labor: feds take the big fish; states the smaller ones) • -- change the crime • (civil rights violation instead of murder) • [Rodney King, missing persons case in Indiana] • -- Another example: • murder (shooting across state line) • DUI laws • not the same “transaction and occurrence!” illustration State-A State-B Mike Vick – facing charges in Virginia, too? Question: Does this even INVOLVE the separate sovereign rule? Answer: No separate sovereign involved! You are DUI here And you are DUI there

Forum Shopping • -- the rule for multiple adjudication in civil cases • -- “Res Judicata” (claim preclusion) • 1. same claimant against same defendant • 2. first suit ended with a judgment on the merits • 3. involving the same event • -- Therefore, civil parties cannot sue twice. • -- can’t invoke this in criminal cases because the parties change whenever the sovereign does. Civil Rule Time

Structuring Goals and Remedies • -- so far, we’ve talked about which court to select • -- now we want to talk about something else: • why are we doing this in the first place? • what is it that we want out of this transaction? • What types of rules apply to the kind of thing we want? • -- There are different types of lawsuits, each with distinct procedure • Criminal cases, civil cases, equitable remedies, damages, etc. • … let’s take a look …

final order object label resolution execution The goal that we want out of the litigation

final order object label resolution execution What we call the lawsuit that facilitates this goal

final order object label resolution execution How the system will decide who wins or loses

final order object label resolution execution What we call the formal court paper granting the relief at the conclusion of the case

final order object label resolution execution How the “final order” is complied with (the process for complying)

Good Quiz Question: What if someone loses a civil case and has a judgment against them. Is it contempt of court not to pay? final order object label resolution execution confinement order sheriff takes you away life, liberty criminal case larger juries Grants permission for you to be jailed 12-person: Felony If you are lucky, maybe they will grant you permission to self report writ of execution civil case smaller juries Property, “money” judgment 6-person: misdemeanor This is how they take it. Three basic options: (a) Have sheriff physically seize property (b) bank levy (c) a wage garnishment Costs money; bankruptcy can stop it. -- prohibition/injunction = don’t do -- mandamus = do [example: civil rights and desegregation] [explain a “restraining order”] Is like a license that enables someone to take your property to satisfy the amount higher burden of proof Usually, 6-person • injunction • writ of prohibition • writ of mandamus “do” or “not to do” equitable remedy bench trial Contempt of court Question: Can you give me an example of this? We want someone to take affirmative steps to do something, or we want someone to refrain from doing something No jury Time

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