Civil Procedure
Civil Procedure
The NextGen bar exam tests civil procedure through case-management problems: subject-matter and personal jurisdiction, venue, pleading, joinder, discovery, dispositive motions, trial, and preclusion. The exam favors applying rules to a short factual record rather than reciting doctrine.
Core rules
- Subject-matter jurisdiction: federal question or diversity. Diversity requires complete diversity and an amount in controversy exceeding $75,000.
- Supplemental jurisdiction: state claims sharing a common nucleus with a federal claim; discretionary in some settings; it cannot cure a lack of complete diversity over a claim by a plaintiff against a nondiverse defendant.
- Personal jurisdiction: minimum contacts, fair play, general or specific jurisdiction, consent, and waiver.
- Pleading and motions: notice pleading; Rule 12(b)(6); waiver of certain 12(b) defenses; amendment and relation back.
- Discovery: relevance, privilege, work product, and sanctions.
- Summary judgment: no genuine dispute of material fact and entitlement to judgment as a matter of law.
- Preclusion: claim preclusion needs a final judgment on the merits, same claim, and same parties; issue preclusion needs actual litigation and a necessary determination.
Worked example
Plaintiff, an Idaho citizen, sues a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in California in federal court for $100,000 on a state-law claim. Diversity is complete and the amount exceeds $75,000, so the court has diversity jurisdiction. If plaintiff adds an Idaho citizen as a co-defendant on a state-law claim, complete diversity is destroyed, and supplemental jurisdiction cannot keep the nondiverse party in the action.
Traps
Do not confuse personal jurisdiction with venue. Do not waive personal jurisdiction or service defenses by answering without raising them. The amount in controversy excludes interest and costs. Claim preclusion requires the same claim, not merely similar facts.