smalltownlawyer

“Did you hear about the new sushi bar that caters exclusively to lawyers? It’s called, Sosumi.”

Bada-bing! Don’t like it? Pffffft . . . Sue me . . .

This is a high level overview of what is required to file a lawsuit. Since this blog is going to be around for a while, we’ll get to the nuts and bolts later. However, before you start, there are some basic considerations.

In order to sue someone, you have to meet three basic requirements: standing, jurisdiction, and justiciable controversy.

A lot of lawyer talk that is really pretty simple when you break it down.

1. Standing: Generally, you can’t sue on someone else’s behalf (exceptions include a parent suing on behalf of a child or a guardian suing on behalf of someone who is mentally incompetent).

The legal argument is you have to have a real injury (typically physical or economic), that was caused by the other party, and can be made right by an action of the court (money damages, an injunction, etc.).

Volumes have been written about that sentence. If you are feeling particularly masochistic, this is one of the landmark cases defining ’standing.”

2. Personal Jurisdiction: Courts have their own sphere of influence or ‘turf.’ You have to have to be within the court’s sphere (or jurisdiction) to sue someone there. This is most important in terms of where the defendant lives. Thousands of hours of sweat, argument, and billable hours has been expended on this point.

However, a few basics:

a) You can sue someone in the state and/or county in which they reside. You can sue a business in the state and/or county where they are headquartered or physically located. Simple as that. Especially if you live in the same county or state.

b) If you want to sue someone or a business that is located out of state, you have to depend on your state’s ‘long-arm statute.’ A colorful phrase meaning the legal circumstances under which you can reach out of your state and haul someone into court. While most states have analogous statutes, there are some twists. So, double check your state’s specific statute before you sue. Here is an amazing compilation of the state statutes.

Use this as a guide only. Jurisdiction is incredibly complex and you should consult with an attorney before suing a person or business that is located in another state. Jurisdiction has another part - subject matter jurisdiction. We’ll save that for another post.

3. Justiciable Controversy: Fancy phrase that means you have to be arguing about something that the court can fix. It also has to be a real and immediate question. In other words, you can’t sue over something that might happen in the future. The court will not issue an ‘advisory opinion.’ This short case has a great discussion of the topic.

Really simplistic example: You want to put up a new fence. It is going to cost $3000. You see that you neighbor has let a tree near the fence line get weak and overgrown. You are worried that if you build the expensive fence that the tree might fall on it. Can you sue your neighbor to make him cut down the tree?

Based on these facts, the answer is ‘no.’ You haven’t built the fence and the tree hasn’t fallen down. Unless your town has some sort of ordinance requiring tree maintenance, that tree stays right where it is until it comes crashing down.

To sum it up. You want to sue me for the rotten joke at the beginning of this post. You have to show how I injured you with my humor. You have to find me and figure out the right court to file your case. Now you have to prove that posting bad legal humor in a blog is a real controversy that is amenable to being resolved by the court.

Got it? That’s okay, neither did I at first. As we get into the guts of preparing a lawsuit, we’ll talk about each subject more in depth.