Civil Pro - jurisdiction question Forum

[stopthemadness]

Can you have a plaintiff and defendant from the same state but Plaintiff files law suit in a circuit court that sits in another state?

Example: Plaintiff and Defendant are domiciled in NY but Plaintiff files law suit in Circuit Court in VA

Thanks!

[rduffy5]

You are confusing a lot of things. Circuit Courts are appellate level federal courts, so you wouldn't bring suit in a Circuit Court- you would only bring suit in a federal district court.

Assuming you meant federal district court, you're still confusing some things. To be in federal district court, the court must have subject matter jurisdiction over the claim you are brining. In your example, are you bringing a claim under 1331 or 1332? 1331 is Federal Question and 1332 is Diversity jurisdiction. If you mean the suit is under 1331, then it does not matter where the plaintiff or defendant are domiciled. However, if you bring suit under 1332, you must have complete diversity and no plaintiff can be from the same state as another defendant (Strawbridge).

Therefore, any federal district court requires both the plaintiff and the defendant be domiciled in different states, regardless of where the federal district court sits.

In your example, where both P and D are domiciled in NY but suit is brought in FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT in VA, there is no diversity of citizenship if both P and D are from NY. However if the claim is a federal question, then there would be jurisdiction.

[xmking07]

You are confusing a lot of things. Circuit Courts are appellate level federal courts, so you wouldn't bring suit in a Circuit Court- you would only bring suit in a federal district court.

Assuming you meant federal district court, you're still confusing some things. To be in federal district court, the court must have subject matter jurisdiction over the claim you are brining. In your example, are you bringing a claim under 1331 or 1332? 1331 is Federal Question and 1332 is Diversity jurisdiction. If you mean the suit is under 1331, then it does not matter where the plaintiff or defendant are domiciled. However, if you bring suit under 1332, you must have complete diversity and no plaintiff can be from the same state as another defendant (Strawbridge).

Therefore, any federal district court requires both the plaintiff and the defendant be domiciled in different states, regardless of where the federal district court sits.

In your example, where both P and D are domiciled in NY but suit is brought in FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT in VA, there is no diversity of citizenship if both P and D are from NY. However if the claim is a federal question, then there would be jurisdiction.

In terms of PJ:

We would have to know more than what you've given us. Based on the broad example you've provided (assuming you mean the district court) he could be subject to PJ on general or specific. Its entirely dependent on the facts, and you haven't provided enough salient points to definitely says yes or no. Moreover, you'd also have to look to see if venue is proper (substantial part of the claim must have arisen out of the district in VA in which suit was filed).

[dd235]

I think this question is about venue.

The short answer is yes (assumuing you are talking about a federal district court like rduffy5 said).

For Venue, under §1391, an action may be brought in "a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of property that is the subject of the action is situated."

So If Joe (NY resident) and Bill (NY resident) get in a car crash in Florida, Joe could sue Bill about a claim arising from the crash in a Florida federal court (but remember, because they do not have complete diversity and are suing in federal court, they would need to satisfy §1331 federal question).

Hope this answers your question.