State juries vs federal juries explained by Attorney Steve®

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WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A STATE COURT AND A FEDERAL COURT JURY?

When you file a lawsuit, one thing to consider is where you want the case heard - federal court or state court? Is there a difference between the juries? How many jurors have to agree for Plaintiff to prevail over Defendant?

First off, to get into federal court, you need one of two things, generally speaking:

1. A federal question (in other words, a federal statute, rule, law, or treaty at issue - ex, trademark case under the Lanham Act, copyright infringement lawsuit, dilution, false endorsement, software piracy under the copyright laws, or other federal question). If you have a federal law at issue, you can get into federal court (and a Defendant could remove your state court lawsuit to the federal court if one of these grounds exist)

2. Diversity of citizenship (meaning if you sue a person or company from a different state from where the Plaintiff is located, and you meet minimum "amount in controversy" requirements and a few other requirements, then the case can be filed in Federal Court or the defendant could "remove" the state court case to federal court. These are always things to think about before filing your lawsuit.

Now, the state juries (at least for California, where I practice, may require 9 out of 12 jurors to agree with the Plaintiff in order to win the case. In federal court, you will need a UNANIMOUS JURY. This can be more difficult because if even one juror is a "holdout", you may lose your case.

However, this should be balanced against the possibility of getting more accurate rulings on legal motions in federal court because they have law clerks from the top law schools (such as Harvard, USC, Stanford, Columbia, Yale, Princeton, Georgetown, NYU, and others helping out the judges).

So it is always best to way the pros and cons of what causes of action you are going to bring and whether you will end up arguing your case before a federal court or a state court panel. I can tell you from experience as a litigator I have always liked federal courts as they run a really clean and tight ship. But we have also handled many cases in state courts, which tend to be more clogged and understaffed due to budgeting considerations.

If you need help with litigation in California or Arizona, contact us to discuss your case. We handle a wide variety of business, real estate, and commercial litigation, including the right of publicity, contracts, real estate, copyright, and trademark law. We can be reached at (877) 276-5084 or find us at www.AttorneySteve.com