Civ Pro I Final

Diversity Jurisdiction: All plaintiffs must be diverse in citizenship as to all defendants AND the claim must exceed 75,000. Domicile is where a natural entity resides aka where they are living and intend to stay; or for a corporation where they are incorporated and where their headquarters (or center of command) is (Hertz); non-incorporated entities domicile is where each owning member is; class actions have minimal diversity and AIC is $5,000,000; claims for monetary damages must be made in good faith and need to have a likelihood that a jury could award at least the $75K, but a jury does not need to

Federal question jurisdiction: Regardless of diversity or AIC, if the question arises under federal law, the federal gov't has concurrent jurisdiction

Supplemental Jurisdiction: If the claim does not meet either 1331 or 1332 jurisdiction and it calls to the common nucleus of operative facts of the case, then the supplemental claim may be added on and heard at the same time (possums!)

Venue: If all defendants are from the same state, then the venue is proper in any district that they reside in

Venue: Any district where a substancial part of the facts occurred... where are the witnesses? the evidence? where did the injury take place?

Venue: If there is no proper district under 1 or 2, then wherever a defendant is subject to a court's personal jurisdiction

Residency: A natural person resides wherever their domicile is (see domicile test from earlier); a corporation resides wherever they are subject to personal jurisdiction

Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction: The federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over cases of patent, copyright, seed, maritime, admirality, and trademark

Removal: When a case has concurrent jurisdiction in state and federal court and the case is filed in state court, it can be removed to federal court but only by the defendant (make sure to test 1331 and 1332), must remove within 30 days of a case becoming removable, in-state defendant rule, all defendants must consent, must file a notice of removal

Remand: A case that starts in state court and then is removed to federal court can be remanded back to state court by any party for procedural objections; 30 days to remove; court will not do this sua sponte

Transfer of Proper Venue: Switching from a proper venue to a more proper one! Court considers private and public factors when swapping; biggest factor is if plaintiff is domiciled in the state and district that the case is being decided in

Transfer from Improper Venue: Court can either transfer or dismiss the case entirely (more than likely will transfer though!)

Court will dismiss as the proper venue is abroad

Process: Summons must include name of court and parties, directed to the defendant, name and address of plaintiff/plaintiff's attorney, time which defendant must appear, notify about potential default judgment, signed by clerk and sealed. Must also be handed to every defendant

Service: Parties must be served complaint and summons within 90 days of making a complaint with the court(m); must be served by an adult (18+) who is not a party in the case

Service of an Individual: Individuals can be served following state laws or personally or left at a person's dwelling that is of suitable age and discretion or someone who has legal power

Serving Corporations: Must be served to an executive who has administrative power or someone who is authorized to receive legal documents/complaints (like a personal assisstant)

Claims for Relief: Must include a short and plain statement of jurisdiction, statement of facts and legal claims, and a demand for relief aka the damages you're going after. Conley is the lower possible standard of relief; Iqbal-Twombley is the higher plausible standard for relief (no "threadbare recitations of legal facts")

Fraud or Mistake: Claims for fraud or mistake have a heightened standard as they must state claims "with particularity"

Defenses: Answer must contain affirmative defenses if they apply (I may have done this but the statute of limitations has run out so you're SOL) and affirm/deny the allegations made in the original complaint

Waiver Trap: If a defendant is raising any 12(b)(1)-(6) motion in their answer or on its own, they must also raise (2)-(5) or else they are waiving their right to do so (omnibus rule); 12(b)(1) can be raised at ANY time; 12(b)(6) can be raised after amendments to a complaint

Default Judgment: If a defendant does not answer a complaint in 21 days, the plaintiff can put in a NOTICE of default judgment which can be mailed to the defendant in first class mail, usually give defendant 30 days to respond, then if defendant doesn't respond, the plaintiff can motion for default judgment; If defendant DOES show up before the motion is decided, then they have to give a pretty good reason why they were missing and file a 55(c); court can set aside a default judgment if the defendant appears with a substantially good reason for being missing

Ethics and Sanctions: Attorneys must sign all motions, pleadings, etc.; if an opposing council believes that an attorney is not acting ethically (frivolous, harrassing, not evidence based) opposing council can impose sanctions, which include paying attorneys fees; if imposing sanctions, must give notice and then a safe harbor of 21 days for the opposing attorney to remedy; court can sua sponte impose sanctions though if they feel there has been a rule 11 violation

Amendments: Parties may amend once before 21 days after service; after they must have consent either from the other party or from the court; the court will decide if the motion is an undue prejudice (changes the legal theory, needs more discovey, etc) and can grant or deny; Statute of Limitations if passed can be ignored if the amended complaint relates back to the original complaint or arises out of the same incident

Lack of subject matter jurisdiction

Lack of personal jurisdiction

Improper venue

Insufficient process (complaint is missing parts...etc)

Insufficient service of process (not all defendants are served, served to wrong person, etc)

Failure to state a claim (this is where the Conley or the Iqbal-Twombley standard comes in)