ABA Family Legal Guide

How the Legal System Works

The Structure of the Court System

State and Federal Courts

Do I have a choice of whether to sue in state or federal court?

Sometimes. Although some cases are exclusively within the jurisdiction of one or the other court systems (for example, divorces are handled in state courts, and all bankruptcies are filed in federal bankruptcy courts), the state and federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction over many cases. This means that these cases may be filed and heard in either state or federal court. A typical example would be a case involving a state law that is being litigated by a plaintiff from one state and a defendant from another state. The state courts would have jurisdiction because of the state law issues. But, if the case involves an "amount in controversy" of more than $75,000, the federal courts would have jurisdiction as well because the parties are citizens of different states. This is known as diversity jurisdiction because the parties are citizens of different states. Article III of the Constitution gives federal courts concurrent jurisdiction over these cases, and plaintiffs can choose in which court they wish to file suit.

It is occasionally possible to commence an action in both the state and federal courts. For example, in the Rodney King case, in which Los Angeles police officers were accused of beating a motorist, the officers were acquitted of state criminal charges but later convicted in federal court for depriving the victim of his civil rights.