Download Understanding Personal Jurisdiction in US Law: General, Specific Jurisdiction and more Slides Civil procedure in PDF only on Docsity! WRAP-UP OF LAST CLASS • We wrapped up our study of subject matter jurisdiction by finishing up our study of when cases can be removed from state court to federal court. Removal is a limit on the ability of a plaintiff to choose the forum. • We discussed International Shoe, a landmark case setting out the modern theory of personal jurisdiction. International Shoe’s minimum contacts test significantly expands personal jurisdiction beyond Pennoyer’s power rationale, which had become outmoded. Docsity.com WHAT WILL WE DO TODAY? • Continue our study of personal jurisdiction by • 1. Learning about general and specific jurisdiction • 2. Discussing a case applying International Shoe’s minimum contacts test, World-Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson (1980). Docsity.com MINIMUM CONTACTS • It is evident that the criteria by which we mark the boundary line between those activities which justify the subjection of a corporation to suit, and those which do not, cannot be simply mechanical or quantitative. The test is not merely, as has sometimes been suggested, whether the activity, which the corporation has seen fit to procure through its agents in another state, is a little more or a little less. Whether due process is satisfied must depend rather upon the quality and nature of the activity in relation to the fair and orderly administration of the laws which it was the purpose of the due process clause to insure. Docsity.com CONTACTS: Under International Shoe Can a state validly assert personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant if: • Such D has no contacts with the forum state? • There is a single act or contact by D with the forum state? • D has business activities within the state that (a) give rise to the claim for which suit is brought in the forum state? (b) are unrelated to the claim for which suit is brought in the forum state? Docsity.com SPECIFIC JURISDICTION GENERAL JURISDICTION • What is general jurisdiction? (see, e.g. Perkins v. Benguet Consolidated Mining Co. CB p. 671) • What is specific jurisdiction? (see,e.g., McGee v. International Life Insurance Co. CB p. 671) Docsity.com APPLICATION OF LAW TO THE FACTS • Why does Stone find that there was personal jurisdiction over International Shoe? • To what extent does Justice Black disagree with Justice Stone? Docsity.com IMPORTANT NOTE: PERSONAL JURISDICTION IN FEDERAL COURT • The 14th Amendment due process clause only limits state power. • Although there are no CONSTITUTIONAL constraints on a federal court’s exercise of jurisdiction over a defendant with an appropriate relationship to the US as a whole who is not resident in the state where the court sits, Congress has limited the jurisdiction of federal courts • See FRCP 4(k) – purpose: to eliminate forum- shopping. NB “100 mile bulge rule”. Docsity.com World-Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson (1980) • For the whole story of the lawsuit, see Charles W. Adams, World-Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson – The Rest of the Story, 72 Neb. L. Rev. 1122 (1993). The article is a fascinating read. Docsity.com
