Civil Procedure II

10 October

• On cross examination (esp. to the court), the question you ask can make your point, regardless of the answer, if you lay the foundation well enough.
• On a motion to dismiss, you need to worry that you might win too much, and therefore be vulnerable on appeal.
• When deposing a corporate designee, you can gain leverage by marking the notice of deposition as an exhibit and forcing the deponent to acknowledge that he/she is on the hook for the matters therein.
• For a court to enter a binding judgment, it needs personal jurisdiction (Due Process clause), and if it is federal it needs subject matter jurisdiction (Article III)
• Subject Matter Jurisdiction can be original, appellate, exclusive, or concurrent.
• What is the scope of article III, and has congress deployed all of that power?
• 3 flavors: arising under, diversity, special types (admiralty, e.g.)
• Louisville & Nashville RR v. Mottley
  The well-pleaded complaint rule.

  It is not enough to plead a complaint to which there might be a federal defense. You need to allege a cause of action that derives from federal law.

12 October

• Back with Mottley
  28 USC § 1331 is narrower than Art. III.

  Well-pleaded complaint: subject matter jurisdiction has to be present in the complaint, so we can make our jurisdictional analysis up front, rather than wasting time and then deciding later.

• So, basically, look at the claim: does a point of federal law figure in it (or is it contract, tort, or some other more state-ish thing). Did the plaintiff have to mention federal law in order to establish their claim, or could the same claim have been done without it?
• An order dismissing a case subject to a settlement agreement, even if drafted by a federal court, is just a contract. If you want federal jurisdiction to dismiss, you need to get the court to include reference to the terms of the settlement of the federal case in the order. Then, if it's violated, you can go back to federal court. So get in there "the parties stipulate that the court will retain jurisdiction to enforce the settlement."

  In state court you can often get the court to agree upon motion to reopen a case that they've recently closed.

• Of course, just because you can't get into federal trial court doesn't keep you out of the federal appellate courts (i.e., SCOTUS).
• Now a 12(b)(6) dismissial gives you claim preclusion in state court (i.e., it protects you from the suit being brought again). 12(b)(1) (lack of subject matter jurisdiction) dismissal just means the plaintiff will just go and file in state court.
• 28 USC § 1332: diversity jurisdiction
• "Principal place of business" is a subject of much litigation.
• Redner v. Sanders
  This is a perfectly suitable case for state court. But he doesn't meet the diversity requirements.
• Strawbridge v. Chrtiss 1806 case that construes the statute as requiring complete diversity.
• There are some statutes that require only minimal diversity: federal interpleader (§ 1335), class action fairness act (2005).
• Partnerships are considered as collections of individuals, not unified entities.
• Insurance companies have the same citizenship as the insured, if the insured is not a party in the case.
• "Nerve Center" the most common test for principal place of business (that's what 7th cir does). "Muscle" test is the second most common (where all the work gets done).
• § 1332(a)(2): "a" foreign state means a single foreign state, not "one or more."
• Saadeh v. Farouki
  What are the "formidable constitutional difficulties?" Applying the plain meaning would render part of the statute unconstitutional, so they just construe it as shrinking jurisdiction.