CHAPTER 3: COURTS AND ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

I. QUESTION: How many of you have ever been in a court room either as part of he case or as a witness.

II. PURPOSE. The purpose of this chapter is to give you an understanding of when a court and which courts have
power to decide a dispute.

III. LET'S START WITH JURISDICTION.

A. Background. Once the decision to sue has been made, a lawyer must make some procedural decisions.
The first major procedural decision is the selection of a proper court

B. Jurisdiction. Before any court can hear a case, it must have the power to hear the case. This is called
"jurisdiction." PARAGRAPH ONE IS "VERY IMPORTANT"

1. A court of proper jurisdiction is one that can render a judgment that is binding on the parties
and is enforceable in other courts. Without jurisdiction, a court cannot exercise any authority
in the case

a. In order for a court to exercise valid authority, one of two things must occur:

(1) The court must have jurisdiction over the person against whom the suit is
brought and subject matter of the case OR

(2) The court must have jurisdiction over the property involved and the subject
matter of the case.

C. Personal Jurisdiction. The first key point that we must remember is that " in order to consider a case, a
court must have power over the person or the property
involved in the action. Do example.

1. Three Types of Personal Jurisdiction. There are three types of personal jurisdiction

a. In Personam Jurisdiction. The first is "in personam jurisdiction." This is merely power
over the person

(1) Example. Larry sues Mo in a North Carolina Court. Larry and Mo live in NC.
Under this situation, the court has "in personam" jurisdiction over Mo because
Mo lives in NC.

b. In Rem. Compare this with "in rem" jurisdiction. In this case, the action is taken
directly against the property

(1) Example. If Larry lived in NC and Mo lived in Florida, then NC can't get "in
personam" jurisdiction, but if
the property was in NC, then
the NC court would have
jurisdiction over the property.

D. Subject Matter Jurisdiction. Subject matter jurisdiction is defined as the power or authority of a court
to "decide a particular type of legal dispute.

1. Usually Defined by Statute or the Constitution. The subject matter jurisdiction is usually defined