The foreign defendant: Overview of principles governing jurisdiction, venue, extraterritorial service of process and extraterritorial discovery in US courts
- Kirtland & Packard, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
This article summarizes the principles governing the power of the United States courts to assert jurisdiction over nonresident parties and the ways and means by which those parties may be brought before the court. It is an overview in the context of aviation litigation, but its analysis is not limited to aviation litigation. It covers only federal authorities and focuses on non-American defendants. The issues are presented in the order they might be expected to arise in litigation. It covers only federal authorities and focuses on non-American defendants. The issues are presented in the order they might be expected to arise in litigation. First is the question of whether the plaintiff will be able to obtain jurisdiction over a defendant in the state where the suit is filed. This determination involves due process principles under the United State Constitution. While the bases articulated by the United States Supreme Court for the assertion of such jurisdiction are relatively simple to express, their application by the Supreme Court and lower courts has created significant confusion and has resulted in contradictory results. The next issue is how the defendants may be brought before the court. For non-American defendants, service of process is controlled by the Hague Convention on Service and is not a subject of significant controversy. Once the defendants have been served with process, one must determine whether the forum court is proper from a venue standpoint. Even if venue is technically proper, there may be arguments that the lawsuit should be transferred to another court, possible even to a court outside the United States, to permit the case to be most efficiently litigated. Once those arguments have been exhausted, the potential application of the foreign Sovereign Immunities Act must be carefully considered. Finally, this article touches upon pretrial discovery. 269 refs.
- OSTI ID:
- 468720
- Journal Information:
- Tort and Insurance Law Journal, Vol. 28, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: Spr 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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