28 U.S.C. § 1369 Multiparty, Multiforum Jurisdiction

LibraryUnited States Statutes
Edition2023
CurrencyCurrent through P.L. 118-21 (published on www.congress.gov on 11/13/2023)

(a) IN GENERAL.-The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action involving minimal diversity between adverse parties that arises from a single accident, where at least 75 natural persons have died in the accident at a discrete location, if-

(1) a defendant resides in a State and a substantial part of the accident took place in another State or other location, regardless of whether that defendant is also a resident of the State where a substantial part of the accident took place;

(2) any two defendants reside in different States, regardless of whether such defendants are also residents of the same State or States; or

(3) substantial parts of the accident took place in different States.

(b) LIMITATION OF JURISDICTION OF DISTRICT COURTS.-The district court shall abstain from hearing any civil action described in subsection (a) in which-

(1) the substantial majority of all plaintiffs are citizens of a single State of which the primary defendants are also citizens; and

(2) the claims asserted will be governed primarily by the laws of that State.

(c) SPECIAL RULES AND DEFINITIONS.-For purposes of this section-

(1) minimal diversity exists between adverse parties if any party is a citizen of a State and any adverse party is a citizen of another State, a citizen or subject of a foreign state, or a foreign state as defined in section 1603(a) of this title;

(2) a corporation is deemed to be a citizen of any State, and a citizen or subject of any foreign state, in which it is incorporated or has its principal place of business, and is deemed to be a resident of any State in which it is incorporated or licensed to do business or is doing business;

(3) the term "injury" means-

(A) physical harm to a natural person; and

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