a. In personam jurisdiction is the courts power to render a decision affecting the rights of specific persons before the courts. It usually extends over a specific geographical region or state borders. The Indiana client cannot simply just file a law suit against Della and Perry because Indiana has no jurisdiction over them because they are in Ohio.
b. Long arm statute is a statute that enables a court to obtain justice against an out of state defendant as long as the defendant has sufficient minimum contact with the state. Sufficient minimum contacts mean the nonresident connections with the state. Examples include committing tort or doing business in the state. The Indiana court could serve Della and Perry on the basis on long arm statutes because they have business in the state of Indiana. In rem jurisdiction is the power of the court over the property or status of an out-of-state defendant when it is within the court’s jurisdiction area. Della and Perry have no property or status within the state jurisdiction area and therefore don’t apply to this case.
c. Concurrent federal jurisdiction means that both federal and state courts have jurisdiction over a case. It covers federal-question cases and diversity-of-citizenship cases. Diversity- of-citizenship applies with two conditions; the plantiff does not reside in the same state of the defendant and the issue concerns and amount greater than $75,000. Diversity-of-citizenship could apply is the sueing amount is greater than $75,000.
2. a. Three written responses include:
1. They could file a motion to dismiss, which is s request from the defendant to dismiss the case because even the allegations are factual, the plaintiff is not entitled to any legal relief. Della and Perry can request this is they believe that even with the facts, the client won’t gain anything from a lawsuit.
2. They could file a motion, which is an application to the judge or court requesting an order in favor of the applicant.
3. They could file a counter claim, which is a claim made by the defendant against the plaintiff if they believe they also have a claim against the plaintiffs claim. Della and Perry can decide to make a complaint against the client. b. Three forms of discovery include:
1. They could use interrogatories, which are written questions that one party sends to the other to answer in order to clarify matters or find out facts. The questions must be answered under oath or penalty of perjury.
2. Request to produce documents forces the opposing party to turn in certain information relevant to the case unless it is privileged.
3. They could get a deposition which is a pretrial sworn and recorded testimony of a witness that is acquired out of court without a judge. Dispositions help gather information and help find inconsistencies in the case.
c. At a pretrial conference, the judge will have an informal meeting with the attorneys representing each party where they will try to narrow down the legal and factual issues and possibly work out a settlement. If no settlement can be reached, they will proceed to discuss how the trial will run, such as length, witnesses etc…
3. a. Della and Perry must argue that a prejudicial error of law occurred during their trial. This is a mistake that was significant enough to affect the outcome of the case.
b. Four alternative order that can be issued for appeal are:
1. An affirm is when the court accepts a lower court’s decision.
2. They could modify the outcome, which is when a lower court’s judgement is accepted, but feel the consequence was inappropriate.
3. They could reverse the decision, in which it is concluded that the lower court’s decision was wrong and the remedy was wrong, thus the verdict will not stand.
4. They could remade the decision, which is when the case will engage in a new trial if the appeal court suspect there could have been an error in the trial that may have affected the decision.
4. a. For this case, the U.S.