Civil Procedure Commons^™

Jurisdiction's Noble Lie, Frederic M. Bloom

Publications

This Article makes sense of a lie. It shows how legal jurisdiction depends on a falsehood--and then explains why it would.

To make this novel argument, this Article starts where jurisdiction does. It recounts jurisdiction's foundations--its tests and motives, its histories and rules. It then seeks out jurisdictional reality, critically examining a side of jurisdiction we too often overlook. Legal jurisdiction may portray itself as fixed and unyielding, as natural as the force of gravity, and as stable as the firmest ground. But jurisdiction is in fact something different. It is a malleable legal invention that bears a false rigid …

Procedural Extremism: The Supreme Court's 2008-2009 Labor And Employment Cases, Melissa Hart

Publications

It has become nearly a commonplace to say that the Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts is a court of “incrementalism.” The 2008 Term, however, featured several opinions that showcase the procedural extremism of the current conservative majority. In a series of sharply divided decisions, the Court re-shaped the law that governs the workplace - or more specifically the law that governs whether and how employees will be permitted access to the courts to litigate workplace disputes. At least as important as the Court’s changes to the substantive legal standards are the procedural hurdles the five …

Switzerland, Samuel P. Baumgartner

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Switzerland has the traditional Austro-German representative association procedures. Debate on adoption of other models, given the opportunity of the introduction of a first federal Code of Civil Procedure, reveals considerable cautious conservatism toward reform.

A Unified Theory Of 28 U.S.C. Section 1331 Jurisdiction, Lumen N. Mulligan

Faculty Works

Title 28, section 1331 of the United States Code provides the jurisdictional grounding for the majority of cases heard in the federal courts, yet it is not well understood. The predominant view holds that section 1331 doctrine both lacks a focus upon congressional intent and is internally inconsistent. I seek to counter both these assumptions by re-contextualizing the Court's section 1331 jurisprudence in terms of the contemporary judicial usage of right (i.e., clear, mandatory obligations capable of judicial enforcement) and cause of action (i.e., permission to vindicate a right in court). In conducting this reinterpretation, I argue that section 1331 …

Should Summary Judgment Be Granted?, Bradley Scott Shannon

American University Law Review

This article discusses (and criticizes) the recent change from "shall" to "should" in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 to describe the standard by which a federal district court is to decide a "properly made and supported" motion for summary judgment. The article concludes that the text of Rule 56, which formally provided that such a motion "shall" be granted, cannot plausibly be construed as meaning "should"; that this change was not supported by those authorities cited by the Federal Civil Rules Advisory Committee; and that, as a normative matter, "should" is an inappropriate standard in this context. Federal district …

Is That All There Is? "The Problem" In Court-Oriented Mediation, Leonard L. Riskin, Nancy A. Welsh

UF Law Faculty Publications

The alternative process of mediation is now well-institutionalized and widely (though not universally) perceived to save time and money and satisfy lawyers and parties. However, the process has failed to meet important aspirations of its early proponents and certain expectations and needs of one-shot players. In particular, court-oriented mediation now reflects the dominance and preferences of lawyers and insurance claims adjusters. These repeat players understand the problem to be addressed in personal injury, employment, contract, medical malpractice and other ordinary civil non-family disputes as a matter of merits assessment and litigation risk analysis. Mediation is structured so that litigation issues …

Forum Shopping And The Infrastructure Of Federalism., James E. Pfander

Faculty Working Papers

The recent effort of environmentalists and others to secure progressive social change at the state level enacts a familiar ritual in the history of American federalism. Political actors who have found their initiatives blunted at the national level have often turned to the states. With the ebb and flow of political power between two parties over time, arguments about the relative authority of federal and state governments display far more expediency than principle, far more mutability than predictability. States may be more or less progressive than the national government, depending in good measure on the temper of the times and …

Pleading Civil Rights Claims In The Post-Conley Era, A. Benjamin Spencer

Scholarly Articles

Much has been made of the Supreme Court's recent pronouncements on federal civil pleading standards during the latter half of the 2006-2007 Term. Specifically, what will be the fallout from the Court's decision in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, a case that abrogated Conley v. Gibson's famous no set of facts formulation and supplanted it with a new plausibility pleading standard? This Article attempts to examine and distill the impact of Twombly on the pleading standards that lower federal courts are applying when scrutinizing civil rights claims. Two main approaches emerge: that of courts that choose to continue to apply …

Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. V. Broudo: A Missed Opportunity To Right The Wrongs In The Pslra And Rebalance The Private Rule 10b-5 Litigation Playing Field, Thomas F. Gillespie Iii

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Mandating Minimum Quality In Mass Arbitration, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

The Supreme Court's decision in McMahon and its progeny has led many businesses and employers to embrace what was once deemed a localized, industry-specific practice. The "new" or "mass arbitration" only mildly resembles the traditional system employed by niches in industry for settling commercial matters among commercial actors. While the "old" system involved parties who were relatively equal in bargaining power and knowledge, these systems for mass arbitration lack a freely entered bargain and resemble more closely, contracts of adhesion. Privatized arbitration resolves issues of both statutory and substantive law, and there is a strong argument, given the inexperience of …

Reinventing Appellate Jurisdiction, Adam N. Steinman

Faculty Scholarship

Appellate jurisdiction in the federal system has been properly criticized for both its doctrinal incoherence and its procedural complexity. Although these critiques are well-founded, this Article reveals that, as applied in practice, federal courts have drawn sensible lines between interlocutory orders that are immediately appealable and those that are not. A limited category of interlocutory orders, primarily those rejecting immunities from suit, are immediately appealable as of right. All other interlocutory orders are potentially eligible for discretionary appellate review. The doctrinal morass of the present framework, however, has obscured this basically sensible structure and has led to inefficient procedures for …

Legal Methods As A Point Of Reference For Comparative Studies Of Procedural Law, James Maxeiner

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper addresses the importance of comparative legal methods for study of comparative procedure.

The Unseen Track Of Erie Railroad: Why History And Jurisprudence Suggest A More Straightforward Form Of Erie Analysis, Donald L. Doernberg

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Distinguishing Certification From Abstention In Diversity Cases: Postponement Versus Abdication Of The Duty To Exercise Jurisdiction, Deborah Challener

Journal Articles

This Article argues that a federal court does not abdicate its duty to exercise its jurisdiction when it certifies a question in a diversity case; instead, the court merely postpones the exercise of its jurisdiction. Thus, federal courts need not limit certification in diversity cases to exceptional circumstances.

How Can Japanese Corporations Protect Confidential Information In U.S. Courts?, Masamichi Yamamoto

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

U.S. courts have seen a significant increase in the number of lawsuits involving both U.S. and Japanese corporations. In deciding these cases, U.S. courts may have to choose how to apply the attorney-client privilege to in-house lawyers retained by corporations in Japan, where the legal system and discovery rules are fundamentally different from those of the United States. U.S. courts would most likely analyze these situations under the Remy-Martin/Minolta test and recognize the attorney-client privilege only for managers of legal departments in Japanese corporations, not for other non-bengoshi (non-licensed) in-house lawyers. This will change in the near future, however, when …

Civil Procedure To Enforce Transnational Rights?, Paul D. Carrington

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Legal Indeterminacy Made In America: American Legal Methods And The Rule Of Law, James Maxeiner

All Faculty Scholarship

The thesis of this Article is that the indeterminacy that plagues American law is "Made in America." It is not inherent in law. Rather, it is a product of specific choices of legal methods and of legal structures made in the American legal system.

The Merger Of Common-Law And Equity Pleading In Virginia, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

This article describes the separation of common law and equity in Virginia leading up to the 2006 merger of common law and equity pleading and the problems that remain to be solved by the courts.

Designer Trials, Elizabeth G. Thornburg

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This article considers the intersection of freedom of contract and the trials that have not vanished. Could contracting parties effectively agree in advance of a dispute that any litigation of the case will comply with certain rules? Would such an agreement be enforced even in a contract of adhesion? If so, parties with sufficient bargaining leverage could design away many of the characteristics of litigation that they find unappealing, without the need to resort to private processes. The result: a designer trial with the procedural deck stacked in favor of the party with the greatest pre-dispute bargaining power.

Such a …

What The Shutts Opt-Out Right Is And What It Ought To Be, Brian Wolfman, Alan B. Morrison

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article discusses the ramifications of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, 472 U.S. 797 (1985), regarding the right of an absent class member to opt out of a class action. The article addresses both the current prevailing understanding of Shutts, which is based on the personal jurisdiction strain of due process jurisprudence, and what the authors believe is a more useful understanding, based on the property rights strain of due process jurisprudence. As an addendum to the article, the authors propose a new civil procedure rule governing class actions that would implement …

A Teacher's Teacher, Lonnie T. Brown

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Jackie Robinson once said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." By that measure, Harold Maier has led an extraordinarily important life. I know that he has had a profound impact on innumerable students throughout his career and upon one in particular. I continue to learn because Professor Maier inspired me, and I teach others because of the wonderful example he set. Though he has now left the classroom, Professor Maier's legacy as a teacher will always endure through the countless minds he has awakened and lives he has touched.

Pound's Century, And Ours, Jay Tidmarsh

Journal Articles

On August 29, 1906, a little known Nebraska lawyer climbed to the podium at the twenty-ninth American Bar Association convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, and commenced the most thoroughly successful revolution in American law. The lawyer was Roscoe Pound, and the title of his address was The Causes of Popular Dissatisfaction with the Administration of Justice. The speech was hardly popular in its own time. The ABA nearly refused to publish the remarks. Thirty-two years would pass before Pound's seeds fully flowered. Even today, many of Pound's criticisms of our adversarial civil justice system ring as true as the day …

Cumulative Supplement To Jurisdiction In Civil Action, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

Cumulative supplement to Jurisdiction in Civil Action Third Edition.

Just Say 'No Fishing': The Lure Of Metaphor, Elizabeth G. Thornburg

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The phrase "fishing expedition" is widely used in popular culture and in the law. In the case of metaphorical "fishing" in the law, reliance on the metaphor can act as a substitute for rigorous analysis, disguising the factors that influence a result. When used by the court, it is uninformative. Worse, the fishing metaphor may itself shape the way the court thinks about the kind of issue or claim involved. Accusations of "fishing" also affect the language and position of the litigants. Parties arguing against pleadings or discovery use the metaphor as a rhetorical weapon, stigmatizing their opponents, instead of …

Brave New World: U.S. Responses To The Rise In International Crime - An Overview, John F. Murphy

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Foreword: Love It Or Leave It; An Examination Of The Need For And Structure Of A Class Action Rule In Mississippi, Deborah Challener

Journal Articles

Given Mississippi's unique status as the only state without a class action rule, the recent developments in Mississippi joinder law, and the suggestions in Armond and Bailey that Mississippi should adopt a class action rule, scholars and practitioners from around the country gathered in Jackson, Mississippi on February 18, 2005, to debate two issues. First, should Mississippi now adopt a class action rule? Second, how should such a rule be structured? The articles in this Symposium represent the final written product of this debate. This Foreword organizes the articles by issue, provides an overview of each article, and identifies key …

Class Actions And Limited Vision: Opportunities For Improvement Through A More Functional Approach To Class Treatment Of Disputes, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

This Article describes the evolution of the perception of the modern class action from populist darling to greedy lawyer pariah, including recent passage of CAFA. It then examines the degree to which different types of cases present different potential benefits and detriments of class action treatment and explains why investor class actions, including those brought by institutional investors, are particularly likely to benefit from class treatment, are resistant to many of the perceived problems of class actions in other contexts, and should receive a warmer welcome from courts, both in absolute terms and relative to other types of class actions. …

Between 'Merit Inquiry' And 'Rigorous Analysis': Using Daubert To Navigate The Gray Areas Of Federal Class Action Certification, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Scholarly Works

In recent years, the class action certification hearing has become the latest forum for disputes over the reliability of expert testimony. Since these hearings may involve complex technical matters, litigants frequently try to introduce expert testimony to either establish or challenge the basic requirements for class certification. Yet, most courts do not conduct a Daubert analysis before admitting expert testimony during certification, evaluate the evidence according to a uniform standard, or adequately weigh opposing expert opinions.

Even though the Federal Rules of Evidence codify procedures to ensure the reliability of expert testimony, courts have been reluctant to employ them during …

State Civil Procedure Plea, William R. Slomanson

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Integrating Racial Justice Into The Civil Procedure Survey Course, Kevin R. Johnson

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.