CivPro Reading: Pennoyer Framework

- Procedure for such Jurisdictiono Example – News Corp. sued Thrugood in Amsterdam. Through arbitration they

received a 23.35 million dollar victory. News Corp. then went to the US with rep from a major firm to petition the

federal courts for confirming and enforcing the judgment. Council did not say that they had personal jurisdiction of Thurgood as he was a

citizen and resident of the Czech Republic However, Thurgood did have a Citibank account in NY which has $63.65 in it When action commenced the acct only had $63.65 Now only a balance of $.05 after the deduction from maintainance by CitiBank Thurgood motion to dismiss in denied and petition is granted, but only for the

$.05 in the account Court does not have jurisdiction to approve the award of $23.35 million, CME

may only enforce the award to the $.05 account New Corp. argued that Thurgood might have other assets in NY

However, quasi in rem jurisdiction cannot be based on speculation about the possible existence of other property.

Page 517-518

- Jurisdictional Amounto Suppose the plaintiff has an underlying claim in a quasi in rem case for $101K, but

territorial jurisdiction exists only over a piece of property worth 5K. Should subject-matter jurisdiction be measured by total claim, or value of

property? Amount of total claim is controlling

Pages 518-521

Darrah v. Watson

- Darrah sued Watson in Iowa upon a judgment of a VA state courto Watson said that VA court did not have jurisdiction over him because when he

received in-hand service of process in VA, he was a citizen and resident of Pennsylvania and was only in VA a few hours on business.

After being served he left VA before default judgment was rendered against him

Iowa court established that VA has jurisdiction over him- Enforcement of Judgments in Other States

o Money judgment for a plaintiff may be enforced in the state where is rendered- Testing Jurisdiction of the judgment-rendering court

o Traditional way to enforce a personal judgment in another state has been to bring there an action upon the judgment

Aim is to obtain a new judgment and enforce it When this is done, the “forum court” in this case, Iowa, will inquire

into the possible lack of validity of the judgment rendered If Iowa would have found it was not valid, it would not have allowed

for recoveryo To be valid you need

It must be rendered by court who has the competency to render it

Court needs sufficient basis for exercising adjudicatory authority over the defendant or other target in action

Person(s) legally affected must have the chance to be heard

- Iowa court did find the judgment to be valido In hand service to Watson authorized jurisdiction and due process

- Full Faith and Credit Clause in Article IV Section 1 and statute in 28 USC S 1738o State give the same effect to valid judgment that is has in the state that rendered the

judgment This applies for all judgments between state and federal court

- In action upon a judgment, law to be applied by forum court in determining validity of judgment is law of – judgment-rendering sovereign

o With respect to enforcement, the forum court will apply its own law Only requirement being that method not be so complex or expensive as to

burden unduly the enforcement of nondomestic judgments- Acquiring jurisdiction in the judgment-enforcing court

o To bring action upon a suit a plaintiff needs Acquisition of territorial jurisdiction

Plaintiff with a $ judgment could go to where the defendant has any assets and then proceed by quasi in rem jurisdiction of the attachment variety

If targeting specific property – plaintiff can go to where the property is and proceed quasi in rem to assert interest in that property

Or, plaintiff can go to where personal jurisdiction is over the defendant and get a fresh personal jurisdiction to enforce

o This may allow that the def. turn over all his assets everywhere

- Facilitating enforcement of nondomestic judgments o 28 USC S1963

Page 522-525

- Reinstatement of the Conflict of Law – “A state will not exercise judicial jurisdiction, which has been obtained by fraud or unlawful force, over a defendant or his property.”

o However, a state can choose to exercise judicial jurisdiction in such circumstances involving fraud or unlawful force, other states MUST honor their choice.

- Immunity from Service of Process

o Non resident party, witness, or counsel is immune from service of process when present in a state for attendance at litigation and for a reasonable amount of time to go to and fro.

- Domicile as Basis for Jurisdictiono Milliken v. Meyer

Millikan sued Myer is Wyoming state court for profits from Colorado oil property

o Meyer was domiciled in WY at times and he received in hand service of process in Colorado

He failed to appear and judgment ruled against himo Meyer then sued Millikan in CO state court to enjoin Milliken from enforcing the WY

judgment and obtain a decree that WY judgment was invalid for lack of jurisdiction over Meyer.

Court ruled that “domicile in state is alone sufficient to bring an absent defendant within the reach of the state’s jurisdiction for purpose of a personal judgment by means of appropriate substituted service.”

Authority of a state over its citizens is not terminated by the mere fact of his absence from the state.

- Consent as Basis for Jurisdictiono Consent to personal jurisdiction before any action is brought is usually effectiveo A defendant may also consent to personal jurisdiction after the action is brought. This

may be done by accepting or waiving services. Page 530-533

- Appearance as a defendanto Id defendant does not was to concede personal jurisdiction then he would plainly not

enter or have his attorney enter a general appearance If he is confident that there is not personal jurisdiction then he can simply just

not show up Example – P is seeking money damages against D in state Y for a tort

committed by D in State Z. D resides in State Z and has never stepped foot in State Y.

o In this case, D can set up a collateral attack using lack of personal jurisdiction

- Example (cont.)o A state under the Hoary Theory can treat ANY appearance by the defendant or his

authorized attorney as a conferral of jurisdiction over his person. Texas used to have the following statute

An appearance that was “special” for the purpose of challenging jurisdiction would nevertheless constitute a submission to the jurisdiction and thus nullify what might have been a perfectly good objection to the jurisdiction.

o In Texas; the defendant can: 1. Come and fight action on merits 2. Stay away entirely and later challenge PJ

o Other states allow for a special appearance

Defendant would file a notice that he was appearing solely for purpose of challenging jurisdiction and not submitting generally to the jurisdiction.

A defendant may raise a jurisdictional defense by including it in a motion in advance of answer or by including it in his answer along with other defenses.

- Suppose a defendant has challenged PJ in original action but court has overruled his challenge. If he defends on the merits, does he waive right to renew jurisdictional challenge on appeal?

o Varies by state and depends if state allows for an INTERLOCUTORY APPEAL If no IA then state has 2 options:

1. Defend on merits and forgo any possible appeal to PJ or 2. Stand on jurisdictional objection alone, submit adverse judgment

and then appeal the jurisdictional ruling.o It is said that allowing a def. of merits to be followed by

reversal for lack of PJ upon the def. appeal from a final decision, an appeal that comes after much time and litigation has already occurred could severely hurt the plaintiff.

- HOWEVER, federal courts and most states have removed this dilemma as well.o They allow the defendant to challenge the jurisdiction, defend on merits, and then

appeal the adverse decisions on the jurisdiction and on the merits.