Legal Vocab/civ Pro

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Minimum Contacts

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A nonresidential defendant's forum-state connections, such as business activity or acitons forseeably leading to business activity, that are substantial enough to bring the defendant within the forum-state court's personal jurisdiction without offending traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. Developed in International Shoe v Washington. · The whole idea behind minimum contacts is that if a defendant has enjoyed the “benefits and protections of the laws of a state,” he should be able to be held accountable to that state’s laws.

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Personal Jurisdiction

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· If a defendant is allowed to be sued in a particular state, that state is said to have exercised personal jurisdiction over the defendant and can require the defendant to come into the state to defend a lawsuit there. One of the many bases for exercising personal jurisdiction is the minimum contacts standard

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Summons

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A writ or process commencing P's action and requiring D to appear and answer.

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International Shoe

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o In International Shoe, the Court ruled that a state court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant if the defendant has such minimum contacts in the state that it is fair for the defendant to defend a lawsuit there. The Court was vague on what sort of minimum contacts are necessary to trigger personal jurisdiction, but suggested that the “quality and nature” of the contacts are more important than their raw number.

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Other Minimum Contact Guidelines

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1) The minimum contacts test applies to both individuals and corporations.
2) Limits on personal jurisdiction in long-arm statutes are distinct from limits imposed in the minimum contacts test.
3) A defendant may have sufficient contacts with a state to support minimum contacts jurisdiction even if the defendant never acted within the state.
· Example: Columnist who writes an article in Florida to be published in California where the plaintiff also lives and works being properly sued in California.
· Example: Lawyer who lives in Minnesota advises client in Missouri and bills for that advice but never sets foot in Missouri may be sued in Missouri under minimum contacts.
4) Minimum contacts analysis focuses only on the time when the defendant acted, not the time of the lawsuit

· Example: If Minnesota lawyer stopped representing Missouri client a year ago, he can still be sued over activities that happened in that past year.

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Long Arm Statute

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A statute providing for jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant who has had contacts with the territory where the statute is in effect.

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Pendant jurisdiction:

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A court's jurisdiction to hear and determine a claim over which it would not otherwise have jurisdiction, because the claim arises from the same transaction or occurrence Ifas another claim that is properly before the court. Pendant jurisdiction has now been codified as supplemental jurisdiction. If there is a predominant federal question, with state court claims, it can be brought to federal court. Judge dismissed the federal claim, and dismisses state claims without prejudice, so they can be brought to state court.

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Original jurisdiction

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A court's power to hear and decide a matter before any other court

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Limited jurisdiction

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Jurisdiction that is confined to a particular type of case or that may be exercised only under statuatory limits and prescriptions.

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in personam jurisdiction

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A court's power to bring a person into it's adjudicative process; jurisdiction over a defendant's personal rights, rather than merely over property interests.

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in rem jurisdiction

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A court's power to adjudicate the rights to a given piece of property, including the power to seize and hold it.

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General jurisdiction

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1.A court's authority to hear a wide range of cases, civil or criminal, that arise within it's geographic area.
2.A court's authority to hear all claims against a defendant, at the place of the defendant's domicile, or the place of service, without any showing that a connection exists between the claims and the forum state.

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Substantive Law

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The part of the law that creates, defines, and regulates the rightrs, duties and powers of parties.

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Procedural Law

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The rules that prescribe the steps for having a right or duty judicially enforced, as opposed to the law that defins the specific rights or duties themselves.

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res ipsa loquitur test

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A method for determining whether a defendant has gone beyond preparation and has actually committed an attempt, based on whether the defendant's act itself would have indicated to an observer what the defendant intended to do.

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mandamus

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A writ issued by a superior court to compel a lower court or a government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly.

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demurrer

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A pleading stating thtat although the facts alleged in a complaint may be true, they are insufficient for hte plaintiff to state a claim for relief and for the defendant to frame an answer.