Jurisdiction Commons^™

Opinion: A Two-Part State Supreme Court, Stanley Mosk

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Federal Antitrust Implications Of Local Rent Control: A Plaintiff's Primer, Steven G. Churchwell

Pepperdine Law Review

The proliferation of rent control laws in many California cities has led to a furious debate concerning its legal, economic, and social consequences. Leading scholars believe that rent control only exacerbates existing housing shortages and excludes the poor, the minority and the elderly from scarce rental housing. This article sets forth the proposition that the fixing of rent ceilings by a local government violates the federal antitrust laws and can be invalidated in federal court.

The United States Government As Defendant - One Example Of The Need For A Uniform Liability Regime To Govern Outer Space And Space-Related Activities, Joseph A. Bosco

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

States Escape Liability For Copyright Infringement?, Michelle V. Francis

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Thompson V. Thompson: The Jurisdictional Dilemma Of Child Custody Cases Under The Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act , Steven M. Schuetze

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Jurisdictional Sequencing, Alan M. Trammell

Scholarly Articles

Jurisdictional sequencing taps into fundamental questions about the nature and role of subject matter jurisdiction and what, if anything, a court may do before it has established jurisdiction. Because the Supreme Court has not rooted the doctrine in a clear theory, jurisdictional sequencing has engendered confusion among judges and scholars, who have been at a loss to explain it. Although a number of courts have embraced the leeway that the doctrine offers—the ability to dismiss a case on easier grounds before taking up harder jurisdictional questions—most scholars have criticized it as illegitimate or incoherent. This Article is the first to …

Amendments To Federal Removal Statutes: Curtailing Adjudication Of Diversity Cases Or Bad Faith Causes Of Action?, Brooke M. Gaffney

Barry Law Review

This student comment explores the problem facing Florida insurers preventing them from exercising their right to litigate bad faith causes of action in federal court. This article demonstrates how the federal removal statutes, and amendments thereto, have potentially precluded insurers from removing some bad faith actions from state to federal court under diversity jurisdiction. This article details the divergence in opinion among Florida’s Southern and Middle District Courts in interpreting the federal removal statutes and concludes with a prediction of how the split may be resolved by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Goodyear And Hertz: Reconciling Two Recent Supreme Court Decisions, Lindsey D. Blanchard

McGeorge Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Stream Of Commerce: Recommendations For Living In The Post-Nicastro Era, Amanda Iler

McGeorge Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bargaining Practices: Negotiating The Kampala Compromise For The International Criminal Court, Noah Weisbord

Faculty Publications

At the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Review Conference in 2010, the ICC's Assembly of States Parties (ASP) agreed upon a definition of the crime of aggression, jurisdictional conditions, and a mechanism for its entry into force (the "Kampala Compromise"). These amendments give the ICC jurisdiction to prosecute political and military leaders of states for planning, preparing, initiating, or executing illegal wars, beginning as early as January 2017.

This article explains the bargaining practices of the diplomats that gave rise to this historic development in international law. This article argues that the international-practices framework, as currently conceived, does not adequately capture …

In The Courts: Special Immigrant Juvenile Status And The Problem Of Federal Consent To State Jurisdiction, Katherine Hinkle

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Extraterritoriality, Universal Jurisdiction, And The Challenge Of Kiobel V.Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., Vivian Grosswald Curran

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Human Rights Litigation And The National Interest: Kiobel'S Application Of The Presumption Against Extraterritoriality To The Alien Tort Statute, Jonathan Hafetz

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Kiobel, Unilateralism, And The Retreat From Extraterritoriality, Austen L. Parrish

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Kiobel V. Royal Dutch Petroleum: A Practitioner's Viewpoint, Marco Simons

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Extraterritoriality And The Rule Of Law: Why Friendly Foreign Democracies Oppose Novel, Expansive U.S. Jurisdiction Claims By Non-Resident Aliens Under The Alien Tort Statute, Donald I. Baker

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Kiobel: Muddling The Distinction Between Prescriptive And Adjudicative Jurisdiction, Anthony J. Colangelo

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

The Alien Tort Statute As Transnational Law, Jaye Ellis

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Kiobel, Extraterritoriality, And The "Global War On Terror", Craig Martin

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Or A Treaty Of The United States: Treaties And The Alien Tort Statute After Kiobel, Geoffrey R. Watson

Scholarly Articles

The decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. left open a number of questions about the scope of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). One such question is the extent to which Kiobel ’s holding on extraterritoriality applies to the oft-neglected final words of the ATS: “The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” What if one such treaty obliged the United States to provide a civil forum for litigation ofhumanrights violations that occurred abroad …

Reverse-Commandeering, Margaret Hu

Faculty Scholarship

Although the anti-commandeering doctrine was developed by the Supreme Court to protect state sovereignty from federal overreach, nothing prohibits flipping the doctrine in the opposite direction to protect federal sovereignty from state overreach. Federalism preserves a balance of power between two sovereigns. Thus, the reversibility of the anti-commandeering doctrine appears inherent in the reasoning offered by the Court for the doctrine’s creation and application. In this Article, I contend that reversing the anti-commandeering doctrine is appropriate in the context of contemporary immigration federalism laws. Specifically, I explore how an unconstitutional incursion into federal sovereignty can be seen in state immigration …

A New International Human Rights Court For West Africa: The Ecowas Community Court Of Justice, Karen J. Alter, Laurence R. Helfer, Jacqueline R. Mcallister

Faculty Scholarship

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice (ECCJ) is an increasingly active and bold international adjudicator of human rights violations in West Africa. Since acquiring jurisdiction over human rights issues in 2005, the ECCJ has issued several path-breaking judgments, including against the Gambia for the torture of journalists, against Niger for condoning modern forms of slavery, and against Nigeria for failing to regulate the multinational oil companies that polluted the Niger Delta. This article explains why ECOWAS member states authorized the ECCJ to review human rights suits by individuals but did not allow private actors to complain about violations of regional …

Protecting The Right Of Citizens To Aggregate Small Claims Against Businesses, Paul D. Carrington

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Brief Of Professor Stephen E. Sachs As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Neither Party, Stephen E. Sachs

Faculty Scholarship

The parties in this case defend two sides of a many-sided circuit split. This brief argues that a third view is correct.

If a contract requires suit in a particular forum, and the plaintiff sues somewhere else, how may the defendant raise the issue? Petitioner Atlantic Marine Construction Company suggests a motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3) or 28 U.S.C. § 1406, on the theory that the contract renders venue improper. Respondent J-Crew Management, Inc. contends that venue remains proper, and that the defendant¹s only remedy is a transfer motion under § 1404.

Both sides are wrong. Forum-selection …

A General Defense Of Erie Railroad Co. V. Tompkins, Ernest A. Young

Faculty Scholarship

Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins was the most important federalism decision of the Twentieth Century. Justice Brandeis’s opinion for the Court stated unequivocally that “[e]xcept in matters governed by the Federal Constitution or by acts of Congress, the law to be applied in any case is the law of the state. . . . There is no federal general common law.” Seventy-five years later, however, Erie finds itself under siege. Critics have claimed that it is “bereft of serious intellectual or constitutional support” (Michael Greve), based on a “myth” that must be “repressed” (Craig Green), and even “the worst decision …

Exhuming The “Diversity Explanation” Of The Eleventh Amendment, Thomas D. Rowe Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

This essay, in a symposium honoring the scholarship of Ninth Circuit Judge William A. Fletcher, explores the “diversity explanation” of the Eleventh Amendment that he had advanced in articles while he was a UC-Berkeley law professor. That explanation, contrary to existing Supreme Court doctrine that heavily constitutionalizes state sovereign immunity from suits by private parties and foreign countries, would view the Eleventh Amendment as having solely to do with federal courts’ constitutional jurisdiction and nothing to do with states’ sovereign immunity. The essay notes the cleanness of interpretation provided by the diversity explanation, in contrast with the convoluted nature of …

The Chevron-Ecuador Dispute, Forum Non Conveniens, And The Problem Of Ex Ante Inadequacy, Howard M. Erichson

Faculty Scholarship

These opening lines from Chevron's website of "facts about Chevron and Texaco in Ecuador" refer to the latest salvo in a long-running environmental dispute concerning a Texaco subsidiary's Ecuadorian oil-drilling activities. Chevron resisted enforcement in the United States of an Ecuadorian court's $18 billion judgment, and the plaintiffs are seeking to enforce the judgment against Chevron in various courts around the world. Chevron's account suggests that the plaintiffs' lawyers are engaged in improper forum-shopping. The plaintiffs'lawyers, according to Chevron, ought to pursue enforcement of the judgment in the United States.

Personal Jurisdiction And Choice Of Law In The Cloud, Damon C. Andrews, John M. Newman

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Theorizing Forms For Social Enterprise, Dana Brakman Reiser

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Local Patent Rules On Rate And Timing Of Case Resolution Relative To Claim Construction: An Empirical Study Of The Past Decade, Pauline M. Pelletier

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.