Guide · Litigation

Personal Jurisdiction, Venue, and Forum Selection: A Comprehensive Guide

Type
Guide
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2024-06-13
Topic
Litigation

A complete practitioner's treatment of where a case can be brought and how to move it. Part I sets the constitutional framework and the three routes to personal jurisdiction. Part II covers general jurisdiction after Goodyear and Daimler collapsed it to the places a defendant is at home. Part III works specific jurisdiction element by element including purposeful availment, the relatedness requirement that Bristol-Myers tightened and Ford Motor loosened, and the reasonableness factors. Part IV covers the specialized contexts: stream of commerce and its unresolved split, internet contacts, intentional torts after Walden, contract cases, and the imputation theories of agency, alter ego, and successor liability. Part V covers consent including forum selection clauses, appearance, waiver, and the revival of consent-by-registration in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern. Parts VI and VII cover long-arm statutes, Rule 4(k), and domestic and foreign service including the Hague Service Convention. Part VIII covers the subject matter jurisdiction interface and removal including the forum defendant rule. Parts IX through XII cover venue including the patent venue rule, the three transfer statutes, forum non conveniens, and the enforcement of forum selection clauses after Atlantic Marine. Part XIII is the procedure for challenging jurisdiction including burdens, jurisdictional discovery, and waiver under Rule 12(h). Part XIV is strategic forum selection from both sides and Part XV is the verification list.

Personal Jurisdiction, Venue, and Forum Selection: A Comprehensive Guide

Litigation > Jurisdiction and Venue | Published 13 June 2024 - Updated 7 July 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

In brief. Four separate questions decide where a case is heard, and they are constantly conflated. Personal jurisdiction is constitutional and asks whether the court has power over the defendant. Subject matter jurisdiction is constitutional and statutory and asks whether the court can hear this kind of claim. Venue is purely statutory and asks whether this is a permitted district. Forum non conveniens and transfer ask whether, even though everything is proper, the case belongs somewhere else. A motion that mixes them draws a denial on the merits of an argument nobody made.

The full text of this document is available to Executive subscribers and above. See plans.