Filing the injury Complaint in the Proper Court

This is a good place for an explanation of the various types of courts. My description here is very much a simplification but it should serve as a basic primer.

Each state has various groups of courts that fall into two broad categories: trial courts or appellate courts. The trial courts are “lower” courts and the appellate courts are the “higher” courts.

Even within these main categories, courts are rigidly organized. At the very bottom of the legal food chain are city courts, town courts and other municipal courts. Just above those are magistrate courts, justices of the peace and other courts that operate on a county level. Then there are the main trial courts, called by different names such as county circuit court or district court but operated by the state. Fans of the television franchise Law & Order deserve a special explanation here.

New York is a little unusual in the naming of its courts. In most states, the supreme court is the state’s highest court (much like the highest court in the U.S. is the U.S. Supreme Court). However, in New York, the trial courts are called the supreme courts and the higher appellate court is called the Court of Appeals.

The lowest courts, the town and city courts, usually hear cases such as traffic tickets or other violations of city law. The higher level trial courts hear various types of cases, usually based on how much the case is worth. In other words, some lower courts might hear cases with a maximum at issue of some small amount usually less than $5,000 or $10,000. The highest level of trial court generally has no monetary restrictions and can hear pretty much any kind of case with few limitations. These are often called courts of general jurisdiction.

Appellate courts hear appeals from lower courts. Some states have only one appellate court and it is the highest court in the state, others have two or more levels of appellate courts. After the lower appellate court has ruled, the losing party may then appeal that decision to the higher appellate court, if any, to review the decision of the lower appellate court.

It is impossible for me to give you a very complete explanation of the different levels and types of courts because there is so much variation among the states. Just know that there are different levels and types of courts that hear different types of cases. Below is a general outline showing the various levels of state courts:

Highest Appellate Court (Often called Supreme Court)
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   Lower Appellate Courts If Any
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   Highest Level Trial Court
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   Lower Level and Local Trial Courts
 

Following similar fashion, the levels of federal courts are:

United States Supreme Court
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   United States Circuit Courts of Appeals
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   United States District Courts (the main trial courts)
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   United States Magistrate Courts
 

There are sometimes other types of courts within the state and federal systems, such as bankruptcy courts, social security courts, workers compensation courts and so on. However, these are called “administrative” courts and are distinct from the main court systems.

In a personal injury case, there might be more than one court in which the case could legally be filed. Most states’ rules provide that a case can be filed in the jurisdiction where the personal injury occurred or where the defendant (or any defendant if there are many) lives.

Suppose that Joe, who is a resident of Virginia, negligently collides his car into Bill’s car in the state of New York. Bill is a resident of Vermont. Bill will have the option of suing Joe in one of two states: He can sue Joe in New York, where the accident occurred or in Virginia, where Joe lives. Bill does not have the option of suing Joe in Vermont.

Once you have picked a state, you will have to file in the particular county where the injury occurred or where the defendant lives.

If you file in federal court, rather than state court, you will still make the same kind of decision about where to file. You will have to file in either the federal court district (they are set up by districts usually encompassing several counties) where the injury occurred or where the defendant lives.

If the defendant is a corporation, perhaps in a product liability action, there is a special rule. Corporations are said to reside in two places, the state in which they are incorporated and the state in which they primarily conduct business.

Of course, if both of these occur in one state, there will only be one state of residence for the corporation. A corporate defendant can be sued where the injury occurred, but only if the corporation does business there or where the corporation resides (where it is incorporated or its principal place of business). Let us consider an example of suing a corporate defendant. Suppose that Chipsmaker Corporation manufacturers potato chips and sells them in all of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Chipsmaker Corporation is incorporated in Delaware and has its principal place of business in Pennsylvania. A batch of contaminated chips is sent to North Dakota where five people become very sick and have to spend significant time in the hospital. Each has permanent damages to their stomachs as a result of eating the contaminated chips.

Where can the plaintiffs sue Chipsmaker? First, because Chipsmaker does business in North Dakota selling their chips there and because the injuries occurred in North Dakota, Chipsmaker can be sued in North Dakota. (The suit may have to be filed in a county where the injury occurred within North Dakota.)

There are two other states in which Chipsmaker could be sued as well. Since a corporate entity resides where it is incorporated and where it has its principal place of business, Chipsmaker could be sued in Delaware (where it is incorporated) or Pennsylvania (where it has its principal place of business).

There are a couple of wrinkles that need to be mentioned. First, if you sue in a state other than where the injury occurred, the court will usually apply the law of the state where the injury occurred, even if it is different from the law where the case is being tried. So if Bill sues Joe in Virginia, the Virginia court will apply the law of New York, where the accident occurred, to the case.

The Virginia court will use Virginia procedural rules, but New York car accident laws. One additional twist in the same regard, though, is that the court will not apply a part of the other state’s law that is against its public policy. For example, some states that have the comparative negligence rule have refused to apply the law of contributory negligence even if the accident occurred in a state that has the contributory negligence rule. However, these public policy issues are rare.

Actually, it is rare to have a case in a state other than where the accident occurred; but it sometimes happens, so you should be aware of it.

The second wrinkle is that, in some instances, a state will apply its own law to an accident that occurred in another state if the plaintiff and defendant are both residents of the state where the case is brought. For example, if an accident occurs in Maryland but both the plaintiff and the defendant are residents of West Virginia, the case may be brought in West Virginia because the defendant resides in West Virginia and in that situation, the court may apply the law of West Virginia, rather than Maryland, because all of the parties involved are West Virginia residents.

Now that you know your options regarding where the case can be filed, how does your injury lawyer choose which one to go with? This is a matter of strategy and convenience and often involves the demographics of jurors or the reputation of the personal injury judge in each potential court regarding ruling more often in favor of plaintiffs or defendants.

Again, this is just an introduction to the rules involving where a case can be filed in common situations. There are many more complicated rules on this subject, many involving U.S. Constitutional issues.