Cyber Squabbles: Where Do You Sue?
If you want to sue a Web-based business, you'll need to know where to file the lawsuit.
What happens when you have a beef over an item or service purchased online? Your local state court -- where traditional power usually stops at the state line -- simply may not have the power to make a binding ruling over an online seller based in another state hundreds of miles away.
Personal Jurisdiction: The Basics
No matter what the subject, a court will not hear your case unless it has personal jurisdiction over all the parties involved. Having personal jurisdiction means that the court has the Constitutional right (legal power) to make a binding decision over the person doing the suing (the plaintiff) and the person being sued (the defendant).
Usually it's no problem to assert jurisdiction in a local court over a defendant who resides or operates a business in your state. That's because state and federal courts always have personal jurisdiction over state residents. But when the defendant's principal residence or place of business is not in the state where the lawsuit is filed (often called the "forum state"), you can haul the defendant into court only there if there is a meaningful connection or contact between the defendant and the state where the suit is filed.
In the world of the Internet, what this amounts to is that if the cyber bad guy you want to sue doesn't live in or operate a business in your state, owns no property there, and there are no other meaningful connections with that state, it means that it's unlikely that a local court will have personal jurisdiction or power over that person. But as we discuss below, there's more than one way to get personal jurisdiction.
Minimum Contacts
One way a court can claim personal jurisdiction is known as "minimum contacts," which refers to the fact that a business or person with sufficient contacts with a particular state can be dragged into court there even though they don't live in that state or base their business there. Usually, any substantial presence in the state will justify personal jurisdiction -- for example, if a business regularly solicits business in the state, derives substantial revenue from goods or services sold in the state, or engages in some other persistent course of conduct there.
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Copyright 2007 Nolo
