State of Confusion Paper

This paper will review a statute requiring all trucks and towing trailers use the state of Confusion highways with a B-type truck hitch. The hitch is manufactured by only one manufacturer in this state and the statute states that any trucker who wants to drive through Confusion must stop and have a new hitch installed or drive around Confusion. Tanya Trucker owns a trucking company in the state of Denial and is very concerned with the stature of this state and how it is affecting her business. She plans to file suit regarding the matter to overturn the statute since the federal government has not made any attempt to step in and take action.

The court with jurisdiction in this manner is a federal problem so in short it is a federal jurisdiction. She will have to file in federal court regarding this issue and the court she would file in is called, "Venue". Also, she would need to file in the state where the incident is occurring. She has to sue the State of Confusion. She should sue in federal court using federal question jurisdiction due to the alleged violation of the interstate commerce clause. The only issue is whether she sues in Confusion or Denial. Although she feels the impact in Denial, I question whether that is sufficient to use long arm jurisdiction to hail them into Denial. The better practice is to sue in Federal District Court for the District of Confusion.

Federal question jurisdiction is a term used in the United States law of civil procedure to refer to the situation in which a United States federal court has subject matter jurisdiction to hear a civil case because the plaintiff has alleged a violation of the Constitution or law of the United States, or treaties to which the United States is a party Retrieved from... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal-question_jurisdiction). In federal law the federal question must present on the face on the plaintiff's face to meet the requirement of a case. There has been substantial debate regarding what is considered a federal question. Now, in federal court it states a plaintiff cannot obtain jurisdiction simply because it believes the defendant is trying to make a case using the Constitution or federal statue.

Tanya Truckers best argument could be an issue utilizing Interstate Commerce argument. These types of issues have been litigated in many other states. One of the most popular involved mud flaps on tractor trailers, something very similar to this case. If this case is argued very well then the defense has an opportunity to exercise this argument. The 1st Amendment freedoms also provide her with a substantial argument regarding interstate travel and the right to earn a living which is different from the right to work.

As for the states of the civil suit any Civil Procedure text will outline these for you. Generally speaking, they are: Preliminary Investigation, Filing the Suit, Discovery,