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Is there Jurisdiction? Look at the situations below and answer the question. Make sure to distinguish between subject matter and personal jurisdiction.  Additionally, discuss the standard the court will use to determine whether jurisdiction exists.  
Situation 1: Mike, a Utah resident, sues Jim, a Nevada resident for $60,000 in Nevada’s Federal District court for negligence (a state law civil suit).  Jim argues that the case should be dismissed for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction.  Is he right? 

Situation 2: Bill, a California resident, sues Bob, also a California resident, for copyright infringement, a cause of action arising under federal law, in a Federal District Court in California.  Bob argues that there is no subject matter jurisdiction. Is he right?
 
Situation 3: Billy, a Seattle, Washington resident, sues the Orange Corporation, a Texas corporation, under a breach of contract (a state law cause of action) in Washington State Court for $100,000.   The Orange Corporation does most of its business in Texas. It is incorporated in Texas, and its corporate Headquarters are located in Dallas, Texas. However, the Orange Corporation does have a branch office in Seattle, Washington where it employs a single salesman. Additionally, the corporation advertises in the Seattle. The corporation argues that Washington lacks personal jurisdiction over the corporation. Is the corporation right? Assume for this question that Washington may exercise personal jurisdiction to the extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States.  Be sure to list the standard the court will apply.  

Situation 4: Same facts as above. Assume the court finds there is personal jurisdiction. Can the Orange Corporation have the case removed to federal court?

 
The requirements below must be met for your paper to be accepted and graded: Write between 500 -750 words (approximately 2 – 3 pages) using Microsoft Word. Attempt APA style, see example below. Use font size 12 and 1’ margins. Include cover page and reference page. At least 60% of your paper must be original content/writing. No more than 40% of your content/information may come from references. Use at least two references from outside the course material, preferably from EBSCOhost. Text book, lectures, and other materials in the course may be used, but are not counted toward the two reference requirement. Reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased words, values, etc.) must be identified in the paper and listed on a reference page. Reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased words, values, etc.) must come from sources such as, scholarly journals found in EBSCOhost, online newspapers such as:  The Wall Street Journal, government websites, etc. Sources such as Wikis, Yahoo Answers, eHow, etc. are not acceptable.

Introduction to Law

Hello class and welcome to the week one lecture for Business Law I. We will begin with an introduction to the law and the American Legal system.  Law is a grouping of rules governing relationships among individuals and between individuals and their society.   The function of the law is to maintain stability while allowing for change when necessary.   As we will discuss, this law originates from many sources.

To start, America has a rich common law tradition.  Common law dates back to the English Court system.   This common law developed through the slow accumulation of decisions over many hundreds of years.  At bottom, judges generally apply the principle of Stare Decisis or the application of principles applied in earlier cases with similar facts.  These earlier cases are known as precedent.  This principle is important because it allows for a modicum of stability in the law as the idea is that similar cases will be decided in similar ways.  However, this system allows gives the common law some flexibility. Judges may decide that old precedent is no longer applicable, for example, due to changes in society’s attitudes or in technology.   When this situation occurs, the judge can create a new precedent.  
The constitution provides another source of law.  The federal constitution creates the rules for governing the country.  It specifies which powers each branch of government may wield, and any state or federal law found to be in conflict with the constitution by the courts will be found to be invalid.  A third source of law is statutory law.  This source of law includes the statutes and ordinances of Congress and state legislatures.  This is a very important source of law, and much of the work of the courts is consumed by interpreting these statutes.  
The final source of law to discuss is the administrative law.  The development of this law has become increasingly important. As the economy began to grow more complex, Congress devolved some of its powers to administrative agencies (generally under the supervision of the executive branch) to regulate the economy.   For example, the Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to keep the air safe.  This mandate empowers the EPA to pass and enforce regulation protecting society from airborne pollutants.  Although this area of law gets less coverage from the press, it can be critically important as these regulations have a monumental impact on the economy. Judges are frequently called upon to determine if the agencies have exceeded the scope of their mandate.
Another important distinction involves the relationship between the federal and state courts.  Each state and the federal government has its own court system.  And each of these entities will often have different statues, common law, administrative law, and constitutions.  States are generally required to follow the decisions of other court’s due to the full faith and credit clause of the constitution, and where there is a conflict between state and federal law, the federal law ordinarily takes precedence because of the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution unless the federal government action is found unconstitutional. 

Finally, most court systems (including the federal court system) have different levels  First, a court of original jurisdiction will rule on a case first. This court will hear evidence from witnesses, and it may have a jury verdict depending on the case. At this point, most state courts and the federal court system have an intermediate appellate court. Often, these courts operate on a regional basis. For example, the federal courts have eleven circuits. The first circuit, for example, includes Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.  This circuit will hear appeals from any district court within those states.  At the highest level, there is a court of final appeal. In the federal system, this is known as the Supreme Court.  These courts often have the discretion to choose which cases they will rule upon. It should be noted, however, that some state court systems have only a court of original jurisdiction and a court of final decision.  

W1 Lecture 2 “Jurisdiction”

Content

Business Law I

Jurisdiction

In this lecture, we will be focusing on jurisdiction.   Essentially when we discuss jurisdiction, we are talking about power.  Namely, we are talking about the power of a court that is binding over particular parties (or property) in a particular type of case. There are two main types of jurisdiction that you need to be aware of: subject matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction.  Personal jurisdiction refers to the court’s power over particular persons (in personam) or over property (in rem).  Subject matter jurisdiction refers to the court’s power to hear a particular type of action.  

Personal jurisdiction can be established in many ways.  Personal jurisdiction can be established by residency. Individuals and corporations are subject to the jurisdiction of the places that they reside.  Additionally, mere presence in a state is sufficient to give that state jurisdiction over an individual.  A third basis for personal jurisdiction is consent. Even if the courts lack jurisdiction over an individual, that person may consent to the jurisdiction of a court. This is often done contractually as many contracts contain forum selection clauses where the signatories agree to subject themselves to the jurisdiction of a particular forum.  Furthermore, states often have statutes requiring corporations doing business in a state or individuals driving in a state to submit to the personal jurisdiction of that state.  Historically, personal jurisdiction was limited to these situations.

However, as transportation technology and communications technology improved leading to greater interconnectedness among the states, there was a need to expand personal jurisdiction.  In the landmark Supreme Court ruling in International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310 (1945), the court held that states exert jurisdiction over entities not present or residing in a state, where there are “minimum contacts” with the forum state and the exercise of jurisdiction comports “with traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.”   Following these guidelines, the states drafted long-arm statutes that specify when the courts will assert jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant. 
The next type of jurisdiction to discuss is subject matter jurisdiction. This refers to the court’s power over a particular kind of case.  To this end, courts may have plenary or limited jurisdiction.  A court with plenary jurisdiction is empowered to hear a wide variety of matters. Courts of limited jurisdiction are empowered to hear specific kinds of case. Examples of these courts include bankruptcy courts or small claims courts.  

We will conclude our discussion of jurisdiction with an examination of these principles as applied in the federal court system.  Generally, the federal courts will apply the personal jurisdiction rules of whatever state in which the court is located.  As for subject matter jurisdiction, the federal courts have jurisdiction in federal question cases and in diversity cases.  In federal question cases, the case must originate under federal law. These include matters such as copyright. Additionally, the federal court’s have subject matter jurisdiction in diversity cases. These are cases where all plaintiffs and all defendants are from different (or “divers”) jurisdictions and the amount of controversy is at least $75,000.

It’s important to note that in federal question cases there may be concurrent jurisdiction. This is found in cases where either a state or a federal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a suit. In some cases only a federal court has power to render a decision, this is known as exclusive jurisdiction. For example, the federal court has exclusive jurisdiction over patents and bankruptcy.