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Old 09-19-2008, 06:19 PM   #123
Ak Mike
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RickyMaveety - I'm sorry, I am enjoying this interchange, but I really don't think this is the right place to conduct a seminar in jurisdiction. Let me note that again you err in saying that a court must have either personal jurisdiction or subject matter jurisdiction. A court must have both.

And as far as "pulling personal jurisdiction out of a hat" - maybe it's time to reread the International Shoe case and maybe even your own state's "long-arm" personal jurisdiction statute - I would start with sec. 17.042 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.

As far as the individual versus corporation aspect of U.S. law, it goes back at least as far as the early twentieth century with cases such as MacPherson v. Buick and Palsgraff v. Long Island RR, in which the courts approved awards to individuals against big corporations that were not even negligent. Texas, your state, is in the lead in this area.

Sparrow - I agree that this type of thing can be worrying. I note that it flows in both directions - in 2001 the European Competition Commission disallowed a merger between two U.S. companies, General Electric and Honeywell. You may also remember that a Spanish court indicted the late General Pinochet for acts committed in Chile, and nearly got him shipped there for trial from England, where he had gone for medical treatment.
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