State of Confusion Bus415

State of Confusion

Ruth Geter

University of Phoenix

BUS415

Carrie Miranda

January 12, 2012

State of Confusion

The state of Confusion enacted a statute requiring trucks and towing trailers to use a B-type truck hitch. The only manufacturer of this hitch is in the state of Confusion. The result of this statute is that if any trucker wants to drive through Confusion must stop to have the new hitch installed, or drive around Confusion. The federal government does not regulate the truck hitches used on the nation's highways. Tanya Tucker, who owns a trucking company in the state of Denial, is not happy with the extra expense this statute would impose on her business. She intends to file suit against Confusion to overturn the statute (Cheesemen, 2010).

Jurisdiction

Tanya Tucker is the plaintiff, who is from Denial, and the defendant is the state of Confusion. The first question to address is does Denial or state of Confusion have jurisdiction over Tanya's suit? Jurisdiction is "the authority of a court to hear and decide a case" (Business dictionary, 2010). For a court to claim jurisdiction over a case, the court must address both subject matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction. State legislators and Congress decide who has jurisdiction and allow courts to hear certain types of cases. Personal jurisdiction is authority over the matter at issue (Business dictionary, 2010).

In Tanya's case, jurisdiction may be either exclusive or concurrent. If only one court can hear the case, that court will have exclusive jurisdiction. If more than one court can hear the case, the courts would have concurrent jurisdiction (Cheesemen, 2010). In rem jurisdiction applies to the lawsuit based on the B-type truck hitch. This hitch is the property of the manufacturer in the state of confusion. This means In rem jurisdiction a court may have jurisdiction to hear and decide a case because of the jurisdiction of the property of a lawsuit (Cheesemen,...