Where can a suit be brought?

Civil Procedure, Seventh Edition by Stephen Yeazell

Rules determining where a suit can be brought come under the headings of subject matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, and venue.

Personal jurisdiction:

• U.S. courts can't exercise power over a defendant if it would "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
• personal jurisdiction focuses on the defendant who is being haled into court against his will

Subject matter jurisdiction:

• courts of general jurisdiction can hear any kind of claim between any persons unless a legal authority says they cannot hear a specific type of case
• courts of limited jurisdiction can only hear cases that are specifically authorized by the statutes that set up the particular court
• all federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction
• subject matter jurisdiction of the fed courts is based on two kinds of consideration
  1. certain claims can be brought in fed court because of the nature of the claim, claims that arise under the Constitution, laws, or treatises of the U.S.
  2. other claims can be brought in fed court because of the citizenship of the parties of the suit

Venue:

• "venue" means "place of trial"
• venue rules are an attempt to allocate business among those courts that have subject matter and personal jurisdiction
• defendant can challenge suit unless court has personal jurisdiction, subject jurisdiction, and venue