Law Commons^™

The Territorial Reach Of Federal Courts, A. Benjamin Spencer

Faculty Publications

Federal courts exercise the sovereign authority of the United States when they assert personal jurisdiction over a defendant. As components of the national sovereign, federal courts' maximum territorial reach is determined by the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause, which permits jurisdiction over persons with sufficient minimum contacts with the United States and over property located therein. Why, then, are federal courts limited to the territorial reach of the states in which they sit when they exercise personal jurisdiction in most cases? There is no constitutional or statutory mandate that so constrains the federal judicial reach. Rather, it is by operation …

Brief Of Professor Stephen E. Sachs As Amicus Curiae, Bnsf Railway Co. V. Tyrrell, Stephen E. Sachs

Faculty Scholarship

[This brief was filed in support of the petitioner in No. 16-405 (U.S., cert. granted Jan. 13, 2017).]

BNSF Railway Co. should win this case, but on statutory grounds alone. BNSF makes three arguments:

1) That Daimler AG v. Bauman forbids Montana’s exercise of general personal jurisdiction here;

2) That Congress has not sought to license the state’s exercise of jurisdiction; and

3) That such a license would be void under the Fourteenth Amendment.

BNSF’s first two arguments are fully persuasive and decide the case. As a result, the Court should decline to reach the third argument. Not only is …

How Congress Should Fix Personal Jurisdiction, Stephen E. Sachs

Faculty Scholarship

Personal jurisdiction is a mess, and only Congress can fix it. The field is a morass, filled with buzzwords of nebulous origin and application. Courts have sought a single doctrine that simultaneously guarantees convenience for plaintiffs, fairness for defendants, and legitimate authority for the tribunal. Caught between these goals, we've let each new fact pattern pull precedent in a different direction, robbing litigants of certainty and blunting the force of our substantive law.

Solving the problem starts with reframing it. Rather than ask where a case may be heard, we should ask who may hear it. If the parties are …

Aiming At The Wrong Target: The "Audience Targeting" Test For Personal Jurisdiction In Internet Defamation Cases, Sarah H. Ludington

Faculty Scholarship

In Young v. New Haven Advocate, 315 F.3d 256 (4th Cir. 2002), the Fourth Circuit crafted a jurisdictional test for Internet defamation that requires the plaintiff to show that the defendant specifically targeted an audience in the forum state for the state to exercise jurisdiction. This test relies on the presumption that the Internet — which is accessible everywhere — is targeted nowhere; it strongly protects foreign libel defendants who have published on the Internet from being sued outside of their home states. Other courts, including the North Carolina Court of Appeals, have since adopted or applied the test. The …

Aliens, The Internet, And "Purposeful Availment": A Reassessment Of Fifth Amendment Limits On Personal Jurisdiction, Wendy Collins Perdue

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article first considers the Fourteenth Amendment cases and argues that the constitutional limits on the jurisdictional authority of state courts reflect a view about the limits of state authority. It then turns to the Fifth Amendment and, after considering the practices of other nations and lessons from prescriptive jurisdiction, argues that the United States's sovereign authority should allow it to assert personal jurisdiction solely on the basis of effects in the United States, without a requirement of "purposeful availment." It further argues that concerns about reasonableness should be addressed at the subconstitutional level. This Article is built on two …

J. Mcintyre Machinery, Ltd. V. Nicastro: The Stream-Of-Commerce Theory Of Personal Jurisdiction In A Globalized Economy, Elisabeth A. Beal

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

World Wide Web Advertising: Personal Jurisdiction Around The Whole Wide World?, Christopher W. Meyer

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Specific Personal Jurisdiction And The "Arise From Or Relate To" Requirement ... What Does It Mean?, Mark M. Maloney

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Opportunity To Be Heard And The Doctrines Of Preclusion: Federal Limits On State Law, William V. Luneburg

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fairness Or Federalism In The Supreme Court's Minimum Contact Analysis: World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. V. Woodson

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Maritime Attachment And Arrest: Facing A Jurisdictional And Procedural Due Process Attack

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Civil Procedure--Concepts Of Personal Jurisdiction Before And After Shaffer V. Heitner, James E. Showen

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shaffer V. Heitner: The Supreme Court Establishes A Uniform Approach To State Court Jurisdiction

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Prejudicial Publicity And The Fair Trial: A Comparative Examination Of American, English And Commonwealth Law, Addison C. Harris Memorial Lecture, Zelman Cowen

Indiana Law Journal

Address delivered on January 21, 1965 at Indianapolis, Indiana as an Addison C. Harris Memorial Lecture.

Taxation-Jurisdiction To Tax-Business Situs-Taxatino Of State Bank Shares

Indiana Law Journal

Recent Case Notes