Civil Procedure
Jurisdiction and the Federal Framework
Civil Procedure rewards a checklist mindset. Start with subject-matter jurisdiction: federal question (well-pleaded complaint), diversity (complete diversity at filing plus more than $75,000 in controversy, excluding interest and costs), and supplemental jurisdiction under §1367, which does not reach claims by plaintiffs against non-diverse parties. Corporations are citizens of both the state of incorporation and the principal place of business; unincorporated associations take their members' citizenship. Personal jurisdiction requires minimum contacts plus fairness - general (essentially at home) versus specific (arising out of or relating to purposeful availment). Venue lies where a defendant resides, where events occurred, or where property sits.
Erie, Pleading, and Preclusion
Erie: federal courts apply substantive state law but federal procedure; ask whether a rule is arguably procedural. Pleading requires plausibility, not conclusory labels. Know the joinder devices (permissive and compulsory counterclaims, impleader, intervention, interpleader) and the trial sequence: JMOL before verdict, renewed JMOL after, then a new-trial motion.
Traps
- Removal: a forum-state defendant cannot remove; one-year cap on diversity removal.
- Amount in controversy: the plaintiff's good-faith claim controls unless it appears to a legal certainty that recovery is impossible.
- Claim preclusion requires the same claim, a final judgment, and privity; issue preclusion requires an issue actually litigated and necessary to the judgment.
Worked example: Plaintiff, a citizen of State A, sues defendants who are citizens of A and B for $80,000. Diversity fails because of the A defendant - complete diversity is measured from the complaint, and §1367 cannot cure a plaintiff-versus-party defect. Rule of thumb: draw the citizenship columns before anything else.