Main Content
Lesson 1: U.S. Legal System
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction refers to which court has the authority to hear a particular case. For example, if you live in Pennsylvania, and someone makes a defamatory statement about you in Florida, where can you file your lawsuit? Can you file your suit in a Pennsylvania court, or do you have to sue in a court in Florida, where the defendant lives? What if the statement was posted on a website, and the computer that hosts that website is located in Virginia? Can you sue the defendant in Virginia? What if the defamatory statement is read by someone living in New York? Can you sue in New York? The question is which state can be the forum where the case will be heard.
There are many types of jurisdiction, with complex rules that are beyond the scope of this course. The most important points to understand are the following:
- You may have to appear in court wherever you intentionally send your marketing messages and wherever your company does business.
- You generally have to follow the laws and rules wherever you do business.
Wherever you intentionally send your marketing messages and wherever your company does business
A business can always be sued in the state where it is incorporated and the state where its headquarters are located. Typically, it can also be sued in states where it maintains offices or employs a workforce. Depending on the circumstances, it can also be sued where it sells or ships products and where it intentionally disseminates marketing messages. If your organization is based in Pennsylvania, and you purchase advertising time on a New Jersey radio station or in a New Jersey newspaper or on a New Jersey–focused website, then you could be sued in New Jersey if you cause any harm there.
Less clear is whether a business can be sued in another state simply because someone in that location viewed its marketing messages. For example, if your business is located in Pennsylvania and someone in Nevada views the website, that does not mean they can sue you in Nevada. Similarly, if you live in Pennsylvania and post a negative review about a company based in Michigan, that does not mean the company can sue you in Michigan. The more contact you have with a state, the more likely it is that you can be sued in that state if you cause any harm there related to your conduct that causes harm in that state.
Wherever you do business
Companies are responsible for knowing the laws (and collecting sales tax) in any state where they do business. The same is true internationally as well. For example, Facebook and other social media companies that operate in the European Union must follow all of the EU privacy laws when collecting data in the EU. California has stricter product safety laws than many other states. If you market and sell your products in California, you must comply with its laws.