A Cynics Guide to Civil Litigation; Chapter 2 - Different Courts

There are layers of courts in our country, like layers of a cake. We have done this to spread out the love, or to handle all the litigation.

The frosting on the whole layer cake is the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court of the United States or the United States Supreme Court is not a “trial” court. You will not get a jury or bench trial in the Supreme Court of the United States. No matter how important you think you are, there is very little chance you will ever see the inside of the Supreme Court of the United States unless you are on a tour.

The Supreme Court picks the cases they want to hear. You may hear the word “certiorari” thrown around when there is talk about the Supreme Court. It is Latin, like so many words lawyers use. I will explain the Latin thing later. If you file certiorari, you are asking the Supreme Court to hear your case. They have guidelines though and you may not fit. Generally, the possible decision in your case must affect or possibly ripple through the whole nation, not just you. A good example would be when the President sues a state over that state’s abortion law. The federal court decision would probably end up in the Supreme Court.

The next layer is the federal court system. These courts are divided up into “circuits” and “districts” within circuits. Why? These are the judges with nice black robes. They are not just the plain black robes. The robes for these judges have great designs on them and they fit nicely! Everybody wanted the nice robes, so we divided up the country to give as many of these people a chance to wear the good robes. Cool.

Circuits are numbered; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc., and are comprised of states that are contiguous, near each other, except in the case of United States territories and districts. You can’t call an island contiguous with anything, other than the ocean. There are 12 circuits or regions.

Each circuit has its own Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals is the next court down from the United States Supreme Court. They are very stingy too. They only hear cases they want to hear, and you need permission from the next court down, the United States District Courts, to apply to be heard in the United States Court of Appeals for your circuit.

The next court in the layer cake is the United States District Court which is the trial court of the federal system. There are 94 District Courts. The District Court has judges and magistrates. A magistrate is a judge, less exalted, but very important because a judge will assign a magistrate to your case for all preliminary matters and the Judge will accept the magistrate’s recommendation on how to rule or proceed. Magistrates have quite a bit of power.

If you file your case or are sued in the federal court, your time will be spent in the federal court in your district, either with the magistrate or the judge.

There are criteria for getting into federal court. You need to fulfill the jurisdictional requirements. You can look up the “jurisdictional” requirements for federal courts. It should be easy to locate on the internet.

The Supreme Court is directed by the Case or Controversy Clause of Article III of the United States Constitution to review any ‘case in controversy’ to see if it meets the jurisdictional requirements. You can ask the Supreme Court to take on your case. This is done by “writ of Certiorari”. This is how you pitch your case to the Supreme Court. Lots and lots of rules for putting together a “writ of Certiorari”. I would never recommend taking this on by yourself. Your writ will go through review, and they will decide if they want to handle it. If you fail to do something required, your case could be rejected on procedural grounds. Not a good result even if they would have rejected the case anyway.

If you want your case heard in any United States District Court in your “circuit” you must meet their jurisdictional requirements. There is subject matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction. You can probably guess what each one means. Personal jurisdiction means power over you, the person. Subject matter jurisdiction means whether the court can decide the subject of your case. Here are some jurisdictional requirements to get into federal court:

1. The plaintiff and defendant are from different states. This is called “diversity jurisdiction”. (Personal)

2. Questions dealing with the Constitution of the United States or Federal Law. This is called “Federal Question”. (Subject)

3. A state court claim that is related to a claim before the federal court. This is called “pendent, supplemental, or ancillary jurisdiction”. (Subject)

If you are thinking of filing your case in federal court because the defendant lives in another state, be aware that there is also a “minimum amount in controversy”. That is just a fancy phrase for saying your case must be worth $75,000.00 or more. Do not just make up the amount. You need a good faith basis for claiming your case is worth $75,000.00 or more.

There is any number of other administrative agencies in the federal system. I am not going to list them all. That would be exhaustive. You may learn about a particular agency just from exposure to the system. There are many rules about getting into court if an administrative agency is involved. In many instances, you have to “exhaust” other remedies before you file.

War Story

I was appearing in a district court that shall remain nameless. I don’t want to face a Judge angry at this story or face a reaction like the Judge in this story.

I had filed a motion in a criminal case requesting the Judge block some evidence that I believed had been seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

It was a “clean up” motion. If it was allowed, it would block some minor evidence and would stop the Government from putting a certain spin on the case. Winning the motion would not save the client anything but time at sentencing.

The Judge was having a bad day. Really bad day. When he took the bench, he didn’t. He stood behind the bench. He had my motion in his hand. He threw it on top of the bench, (I assume for effect), and loudly pronounced “denied!” The clerk scrambled to pick up the papers that had scattered off the bench onto the floor.

I asked to be heard. He again loudly stated “denied” while glaring at me. I asked he note my objection. He said, “I will not.”

The clerk, now trying to organize the spilled papers on the bench above him, whispered to the Judge. The Judge rolled his eyes and asked. “What is the government’s position on this?”

The Assistant United States Attorney, with whom I had a courteous relationship, looked appalled. He had explained to me he would oppose the motion as a matter of policy but would not make an argument. Not too uncommon with these types of things.

When asked, however, he said. “The government takes no position.”

This is a surrender. It is one thing to state an opposition with no argument, it is another to take no position.

The Judge turned, stepped down from the bench platform, and headed for the exit to his chambers. Before he reached the door, he turned an announced, “Attorney Balliro, your motion is allowed.” He grabbed the doorknob, but it would not turn. The door had locked.

The clerk scrambled to unlock the door while the Judge stood nearby. The Judge turned and said, “That ruined the effect, didn’t it.”

I thought to myself, “Nothing could ruin that effect.” I smiled anyway.

To this day I have no idea why he was so pissed!

This is true in state courts as well. You may be required to go through an administrative hearing before you can file in court. Think of it this way…there are so many different interactions with the federal government much of what they regulate must be governed by agencies. So many people are harmed by some bureaucratic decision, it just makes sense to have the agency try to resolve the complaints before they overwhelm the courts. Check out whether you have to “exhaust” other remedies, such as an administrative agency hearing process before you file it in court. You may get kicked out if you don’t.

The next layer of the cake is the state system. (This stuff can be exhausting)

Each state is left up to its own devices as long as it doesn’t go too crazy. States must work within the democratic republic. They cannot set up a dictatorship court. You got rights and the state can’t shit all over them. If they do, the feds will step in. Nevertheless, in our system, states rule. They are autonomous, and the feds cannot just take over, although the Congress of the United States is always trying to increase federal power over the states.

How much respect do we give states? Think of it this way...many state Constitutions predate the United States Constitution and the language used in the United States Constitution is taken word for word from state Constitutions. We were here first! Back when we started, the premise of American infrastructure was that the states had to be independent. Still true, but not so much.

Because states are independent, they can name their courts however they like. Do not expect a great deal of uniformity state by state in how courts are labeled, but you can expect some general designs that are consistent with our layer cake.

Every state, territory, and district will have an appellate division; no matter how it is named. The appellate division is designed to review “lower” court decisions or the decisions of jurors in the “lower” court. You can expect two layers of the appellate cake. One, invariably, with be called the Appeals Court or Court of Appeals, or some such name. The other, highest court may be called the Supreme Court or Supreme Appellate Court, or Supreme Judicial Court. While this is not always true, some states call their trial court the Supreme Court, there will be an appellate division. It can be confusing but check out your state court system on the internet and you should be able to figure it out easily.

The “trial” courts generally are the lowest layer of the cake. These courts can be divided up among counties, cities and towns, parishes, or other local governments within the state. Some states have upper courts and lower courts at this layer. Some states label these local courts Superior Courts and District Courts. Others have more than two layers of local courts. Some have one. You will need to look to these local “trial courts” first in deciding where to file your case. You will also need to look at what division inside each court will hear your case. For instance, some local courts have a division called “small claims”, designed to handle cases where the damages are up to a certain threshold. Other courts may have “clerk hearings” designed to handle your request that the court force the defendant to do something or to stop doing something. You are best off giving the clerk’s office a call if you are confused or uncertain.

My father, who was known as the “Dean of the Defense Bar” nationally for decades, had a very wise saying: “All law is local”. He practiced for over 60 years. His use of this phrase was probably a little outdated. He meant to describe a system that starts at the local level. I believe that in later years he meant to invoke respect for a system that, in the later 1800s and early 1900s, had to begin and end at the local level. I have always had a healthy respect for local courts. If I could relegate my practice to appearing solely in local courts, I would enjoy it immensely. Alas, we lawyers have got to go where we are needed. All over the state and country!