federal courts?

Question

Under which circumstances may an action be brought into federal, rather than state, court?

Answer 1

Very broad question. There are many situations that apply to this.

One great example is equal opportunity lawsuits. Many attorneys try very hard to get them into federal courts; but, the laws are more stringent.

IE, federal law requires the complaint to file the lawsuit within 180 days. On the state level, a person has the full length of the applicable state's statue of limitations.

Answer 2

Two common situations.

First, under "federal question" jurisdiction, where the suit is brought for violation of federal law or the US Constitution.

The other is under "diversity" jurisdiction, where the plaintiffs and defendants are from different states, and the amount in controversy is very high (currently over $75K).

There are a few special case exceptions as well, where specific statutes grant jurisdiction to the courts. But generally,t those two categories are the primary means.