Problem
I. Under "stare decisis", is a "trial court" in New Jersey state court required to follow a similar prior decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court (the highest court in that state)?
II. Does "diversity of citizenship" jurisdiction exist if the plaintiffs, Bill, a citizen of New York and Tom, a citizen of Maine, sue the defendants Steve a citizen of Maryland, and Kyle a citizen of New York, for $75,000.01?
III. If you had a case decided by a judge in the U.S. District Court in Alabama and you wanted to appeal that decision to the appropriate U.S. Court of Appeals, which specific "judicial circuit" would you be appealing to?
IV. If you wanted to file for bankruptcy, can you file in either State or Federal court?
V. How does a court achieve "jurisdiction over the plaintiff" in the lawsuit?
VI. What is the "trial court" called in New York state court?
VII. What is the document called that the Plaintiff files to start a lawsuit? What happens if a Defendant simply decides to not respond at all to a lawsuit filed against them?
VIII. "Discovery" is a process in civil litigation where each party to the lawsuit tries to obtain relevant evidence to prove their case. Your reading discusses the 5 different procedures in the discovery process. Of the 5 procedures listed, which one do you think is the most useful in obtaining evidence to prove your case and why?
IX. If a person loses a case and has a monetary judgment entered against them by the court but that person simply refuses to pay the judgment, what happens then?
X. As discussed in your reading, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) takes on many forms (arbitration, mediation, negotiation, etc.) and has become an increasingly popular alternative to the court system in our litigious society. With that said, which form of ADR from Chapter 3 would you choose and why if faced with this situation: You are involved in a dispute with another party and you believe that you have a great defense against their claims. The issue is that, despite your strong confidence in your position, if somehow you did lose the case, you would wind up losing your entire company.