Pennoyer Case

8/16/23 4:12 PM

Video
Personal Jurisdiction is what Pennoyer intros
What is jurisdiction?
Jurisdiction is simply power
The authority of the court to hear a case and bind people to their judgement
Two types of jurisdiction
Personal
Subject Matter
Personal concerns whether a court has power to issue a binding judgement to a particular party
Subject matter concerns whether a court can hear a particular case
Focusing for the next few weeks on personal jurisdiction
First case before Pennoyer v. Neff
Mitchell v. Neff is first
Mitchell sues Neff for $253.14 in legal fees
Mitchell had done legal work for Neff and was not paid
Sues him in Oregon state court
1865
Mitchell submits affidavit saying that Neff owned land in Oregon and lived somewhere in california where he
could not be found
An affidavit is a sworn statement
The court ordered notice of a lawsuit to be published for 6 weeks in a church bulletin to give notice to Neff in the
lawsuit
Did Neff ever see this notice
No
Six months after the default judgement
Default judgement is when a party doesn't show and the court basically sides with the other party, like
Get a hard copy or online copy of a law dictionary
forfeiting
Annotate, look up definitions, write down the
Mitchell goes to get a writ of execution
definitions
Writ of execution gives you permission to enforce the judgment
A judgement is not worth anything practically
You have to execute it
This is also a second proceeding
He attaches the land that Neff owns in Oregon
It is then sold in a Sheriff's sale, purchased by Mitchell and then sold to Pennoyer
That is lawsuit #1
Remember the land was only attached to the lawsuit after the writ of execution
What does it mean to attach, the court can literally take physical items into the court
Court basically takes it and sells the item in question
Nine years later in 1874
Neff realizes that his land in Oregon was gone and says he never received notice
Neff goes to federal court
Neff v. Pennoyer
Suing for eviction to regain the title
Why is it called Pennoyer v neff then?
Neff won case below and now its being appealed
What happens in federal trial court?
The trial court decides that the Oregon default judgement is invalid because the affidavits Mitchell
submitted that were published in the church paper were not substantial enough, they were insufficient
Now what we're reading is the Supreme Court case
What does SCOTUS think of the trial court's reasoning?
Do they agree with the trial courts opinion on the affidavit?
The court says the deficiencies in the affidavit could only be used for the basis of an appeal
When you appeal a case it is part of the same proceeding, not a new
You usually have to file your appeal within a certain amount of time
If Neff had wanted to appeal he should have done it, but he didn't know about it so he couldn't appeal
This is not an appeal then because it is a collateral attack (not a super important term)
It's a separate lawsuit attempting to void the previous lawsuit
This is really rare and can only be done of very specific procedural grounds.
These are only allowed on jurisdictional grounds
Affidavit isn't a jurisdictional ground so this cannot be brought to suit
Does SCOTUS reverse the federal trial court or does it overrule the Oregon case?
Read the case and find out next time on Dragon Ball Z

SCOTUS affirmed the Federal Trial Court

Pennoyer v. Neff
Facts - See above

Procedural Posture - See above

Issue - Was the Oregon court right in taking Neff's land from him? Was the legal basis for doing so sound?

Holding - The court upheld the federal trial court that found Neff should regain the property

Reasoning - SCOTUS argued that because Neff was living outside of the State of Oregon their laws could not apply
to him as he was not a citizen of Oregon nor present in the state at the time of the original court proceedings.
Additionally, the property couldn't be taken because it was not attached before the litigation started which is
where the trial court has in rem (against the property jurisdiction). The publishing in the church bulletin was also
an insufficient means to notify Neff of the suit.

Rule -

Procedural Disposition - Pennoyer actually served as the governor of Oregon about a decade after the case

In a common law system, the law is constantly changing.

Hybrid format makes things kinda tricky
Take the quiz after class, it will work out best for you
Do not go ahead, do not fall behind
Stay up to date and survive

In Personam
You are literally served with process in the state of Oregon to be sued under the state's jurisdiction
You must be present in the state or consent to be a party in a suit
In rem jurisdiction is against the property
What are the in rem proceedings? True in rem, quasi in rem, quasi in rem type 2
True in rem - trying to figure out ownership of the property as against the world (as against as claimants this is final on
ownership)
Quasi in rem type 1 - ownership of the property as between the litigants (which of the two people owns the land)
Both of these were assessing ownership of the property
Quasi in rem type 2 - when we use property as a method to assert jurisdiction over someone, property is attached to the
lawsuit but the suit has nothing to do with the property. (the underlying lawsuit need not be related to the property at
all) Property is the source of the jurisdiction
If you adjudicate the lawsuit what do you get in a quasi type 2? You get the property's value in money. That is THE MOST
you can get. Because at the end of the lawsuit you will sell the property and that’s it
Why isn't this an in rem case?
Because this property wasn't attached at the start of the case