Civil Procedure: Jurisdiction, Standing, and Class Actions

Vocabulary flashcards covering parties, standing, jurisdiction, service, long-arm statutes, extradition, and class-action concepts based on the lecture notes.

plaintiff

The party who files a lawsuit.

defendant

The party who is sued.

counterclaim

A claim by the defendant against the plaintiff in the same lawsuit.

third-party defendant

A party brought into the lawsuit by the defendant who was not named in the original complaint.

standing to sue

A requirement that the plaintiff has a personal stake in the resolution of the case.

case or controversy

A justiciable dispute that the court has the power to decide.

personal jurisdiction

The court's authority over the parties to a lawsuit.

service of process

Delivery of court papers (including a summons) to establish jurisdiction over the defendant.

summons

An official order to appear in court.

long-arm statute

A state law allowing service of process on out-of-state defendants for certain activities.

minimum contacts

The level of contact a defendant must have with the forum state to satisfy due process for jurisdiction.

due process (jurisdictional)

Constitutional requirement that a court may exercise jurisdiction only if the defendant has sufficient connections with the state.

extradition

The process of returning a criminal defendant to the state where the crime occurred when they flee to another state.

class action

A lawsuit filed by one or more plaintiffs on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated.

class certification

A set of requirements to certify a class: numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation.

numerosity

The class is so large that joining all members is impractical.

commonality

Common questions of law or fact are shared by all members of the class.

typicality

The class representatives' claims or defenses are typical of the class.

adequacy of representation

The class representatives must fairly and adequately represent the interests of the class.

Walmart v. Dukes

A class-action on workplace discrimination; involved about 3.2 million plaintiffs; addressed class certification and commonality; the Supreme Court limited/denied class certification.