Includes indexes.

Personal jurisdiction : the enigma of minimum contacts -- Varieties of due process : other bases for personal jurisdiction -- Statutory limits on personal jurisdiction : the reach and grasp of the long-arm -- Seeking the home field advantage : challenges to personal jurisdiction -- Federal questions and federal cases : jurisdiction over cases "arising under" federal law -- Diversity jurisdiction : when does multiplicity constitute diversity? -- Personal and subject matter jurisdiction compared : the first two rings -- Second-guessing the plaintiff's choice of forum : removal -- Proper venue in federal courts : a rough measure of convenience -- Choosing a proper court : the three rings reconsidered -- Easy Erie : the law of Rome and Athens -- Eerie Erie : the substance/substance distinction -- Erie and state choice of law : vertical uniformity and horizontal chaos -- Sculpting the lawsuit : the basic rules of joinder -- Into the labyrinth : joinder of parties under Rule 14 -- Essentials and interlopers : joinder of parties under Rules 19 and 24 -- Jurisdictional fellow travelers : supplemental jurisdiction -- Jurisdiction vs. joinder : the difference between power and permission -- The bearer of bad tidings : service of process in the federal courts -- Getting off easy : the motion to dismiss -- When justice so requires : amendments to pleadings under the Federal Rules -- The scope of discovery : the rules giveth, and the rules taketh away -- Tools of the trade : the basic methods of discovery -- Defective allegation or insufficient proof? Dismissal for failure to state a claim compared to summary judgment -- The judge and the jury, part one : judgment as a matter of law (directed verdict) -- The judge and the jury, part two : whose case is this, anyway? -- Res judicata (claim preclusion) : the limits of procedural liberality -- Res judicata and the rules of joinder : when does may mean must? -- Collateral estoppel (issue preclusion) : fine-tuning the preclusion doctrine -- The obscure kingdom : nonmutual collateral estoppel -- An introduction to the pretrial litigation process : setting the stage for the Schulansky case -- First moves : Schulansky goes to court -- A change of forum : Ronan removes to federal court -- The defendants' perspective : Ronan's answer and counterclaim -- Chain reaction : Ronan brings in Jones -- Preliminary objections : Jones seeks a way out.

"Everyone comes to law school with some idea of what a contract is or the meaning of assault and battery, but who ever heard of supplemental jurisdiction, impleader, or res judicata? Abstract concepts such as these make civil procedure the most unfamiliar and intimidating of the basic law school courses. However, civil procedure can also be fascinating if you can get by the initial strangeness. Many of the topics covered in the course appear baffling upon first acquaintance but begin to make sense when you see how they apply in particular cases and how they relate to other topics in the course. The goal of this book is to demystify civil procedure by providing concrete examples of procedural doctrines and rules in operation, together with full explanations of how these abstract concepts apply to each example"--