CALIFORNIA CIVIL LITIGATION COURTS IN CALIFORNIA 2005 by

CALIFORNIA CIVIL LITIGATION COURTS IN CALIFORNIA © 2005 by Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. 1

JURISDICTION— power of the court to render an enforceable judgment. 2

FEDERAL COURTS Federal Trial Courts— U. S. District Court Judgments appealed to— U. S. Courts of Appeal Decisions may be reviewed by— U. S. Supreme Court 3

CALIFORNIA FEDERAL COURTS ¨ Central District—Los Angeles ¨ Northern District—San Francisco ¨ Southern District—San Diego ¨ Eastern District—Sacramento 4

CALIFORNIA STATE COURTS State Trial Courts—Superior Courts Judgments appealed to—Courts of Appeal Decisions may be reviewed by— California State Supreme Court 5

Each county has a superior court, which may have many branches. 6

SUPERIOR COURTS ¨ Small Claims ¨ Trial Courts ¨ Appellate Department 7

SMALL CLAIMS Courts of “inferior” jurisdiction – judgments may not exceed $5000. 8

SUPERIOR COURT TRIAL COURTS— handle all civil cases not heard in small claims. Cases are either “limited civil” or “unlimited civil. ” 9

LIMITED CIVIL CASES— less than $25, 000 in dispute. 10

UNLIMITED CIVIL CASES— more than $25, 000 in dispute. 11

APPEALS U. S. Courts of Appeals and California Courts of Appeal of are required to accept appeals lower court judgments. 12

SUPREME COURTS U. S. Supreme Court and California State Supreme Court have discretionary review of appellate decisions. 13

ADMINISTRATIVE COURTS ¨ Non-judicial courts ¨ Have their own procedures ¨ Paralegals may represent clients 14

CHOOSE THE CORRECT COURT! The wrong court will not have jurisdiction — it will not have the power to render an enforceable judgment! 15

CHOICE OF COURT Subject matter jurisdiction and Personal jurisdiction 16

SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION— the power of the court to act in a particular type of case. 17

PERSONAL JURISDICTION— the power of the court over the parties or property in dispute. 18

SUMMARY State/Federal Trial/Appellate Courts PREVIEW Personal/Subject Matter Jurisdiction 19