Civil Procedure
Civil Procedure tests the lifecycle of a civil action: jurisdiction, venue, pleading, joinder, discovery, dispositive motions, trial, and the preclusive effect of judgments. Ohio state courts apply the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure, which parallel the Federal Rules in many but not all respects.
Core rules
- Subject-matter jurisdiction cannot be waived; personal jurisdiction and venue can be.
- A federal court in a diversity case applies state substantive law under Erie and federal procedural rules.
- Claim preclusion requires a final judgment on the merits by a court with jurisdiction, same parties or privies, and the same claim or transaction.
- Issue preclusion requires actual litigation and a necessary determination.
Worked example
P sues D for breach of a written contract in Ohio state court and loses on a jury verdict. P later sues D in federal court for fraudulent inducement arising from the same negotiations. D moves to dismiss. Reasoning: Ohio claim preclusion bars the second suit if the fraudulent inducement claim arises from the same transaction and could have been joined; a final judgment on the merits exists, and the parties are identical. The federal court must give the Ohio judgment the same effect Ohio would give it under the Full Faith and Credit Act. The motion should be granted unless Ohio would treat the fraud claim as a separate transaction.
Traps
- Confusing venue with personal jurisdiction.
- Waiving a 12(b)(2) defense by answering without raising it.
- Missing the Rule 26(a)(1) initial-disclosure deadline and later trying to use the omitted evidence.
- Forgetting that a compulsory counterclaim omitted from the first action is barred.