Leading Cases in Civil Procedure (American Casebook Series)

This fourth edition incorporates a number of changes from the third edition, published in 2017. While civil procedure might not be characterized as a swiftly changing field, nonetheless the Supreme Court continues to weigh in on its favorite procedural topic: personal jurisdiction. This edition includes the Court’s recent personal jurisdiction decisions in Bristol Myers Squibb v. Superior Court of California (2017), and Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eighth Judicial District (2021). This edition also adds a substantial excerpt from District Court Judge Linda V. Parker’s opinion and order in King v. Whitmer (E.D. Mich. 2021), concerning sanctions imposed on the attorneys who represented ex-President Donald J. Trump in his re-election challenges to the Michigan 2020 voting returns. Finally, this edition adds the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Cameron v. EMW Women’s Surgical Center, dealing with a state attorney general’s right of appellate intervention after an election caused a change in attorney general’s position previously asserted to the court. Justice Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion raises concerns about the dangerous political implications of the majority’s opinion.

To maintain the casebook’s general format and concept while maintaining a compact book, the fourth edition has eliminated some decisions. There is one notable reorganization of the personal jurisdiction materials. The book has reorganized the introductory chapters to present a more coherent doctrinal appreciation of personal jurisdiction. The first chapter presents the canonical cases setting forth personal jurisdiction concepts in chronological order. This edition reorganizes the second and third chapters conceptually, grouping cases where the Court has revisited its jurisprudence (for example, the effects test, jurisdiction based on contract, or stream of commerce). The fourth chapter groups the Court’s cases dealing with general and specific jurisdiction, to illustrate the Court’s grappling with these doctrines. In all subsequent chapters dealing with the rules portion of the course, the book has updated the Federal Rules and statutory provisions to reflect rule amendments since the last edition.

The casebook’s basic concept remains, which is to provide students with fewer cases but longer decision excerpts to provide extensive procedural background as well as doctrinal analysis. The book is constructed in the belief that first year students do not need to be procedure scholars knowledgeable about every eddy in civil procedure, but instead to have an in-depth appreciation of foundational procedural concepts. In addition, unlike most casebooks, this casebook retains concurring and dissenting opinions to provide students with insight into the debates among the Justices concerning outcomes in the cases.