For the Fall 2010 syllabus with Quick-Start Guide, initial assignment, and instructions on enrolling in the Lexis Blackboard webcourse, please click here.
ABOUT CIVIL PROCEDURE
Civil Procedure is about the procedures that govern litigation in civil lawsuits. Suppose your client, Paula from Florida, gets into a car accident in Utah with a driver, David from Pennsylvania. Paula tells you that David drove recklessly, thus causing the accident. There are no witnesses besides Paula (your client), and David (who refuses to talk to you). The police report does not say whether David was reckless, but indicates that his tires may have been defective. David’s tires were manufactured by Malay Treads, Inc., a company from Malaysia. Also, David works for Mall-Mart, Inc., a national retail chain incorporated in Delaware with its headquarters in Arkansas.
In addition to considering the substantive law of tort liability (which you’ll cover in another class), you’ll have to consider procedural issues, such as:
- How do you start a lawsuit? What do you file? What should it say?
- How do you get the information you need to file a lawsuit, and to later go to trial?
- Can Paula sue only David, only Malay Treads, Inc., or may she sue both?
- Where do you file the suit? Florida? Pennsylvania? Utah? Malaysia?
- Should you file in state or federal court? Do you get to pick and choose?
- What if after filing suit, you learn that David was “on the job” for Mall-Mart at the time of the accident. Can you amend your lawsuit to bring Mall-Mart into the suit? If the statute of limitations expired by then, would it be too late?
- Can David counter-sue Paula?
- If Paula loses at trial, can she sue David again in another court?
Can you answer these questions now? Of course not. But this year, we’ll consider questions like these and many more. Our course will provide a comprehensive introduction to the process of modern civil litigation. In the fall and part of spring, we’ll examine the major steps in the civil litigation process from initial filing until final disposition, including but not limited to: pre-filing issues, pleadings, motions, joinder of parties and claims, disclosure and discovery, summary judgment, the right to a jury trial, judgment as a matter of law, judgments, appeals, and post-judgment motions. In the spring, we’ll also address personal jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, service, venue, choice of law in federal courts, and preclusion doctrines.