Whats the difference between suing in federal court versus state courts?
The main difference is that the federal court system covers larger territories and the federal courts only hear specific kinds of cases. (This is called limited jurisdiction – as opposed to general jurisdiction which state courts have). Their judicial power is set by a specific part of the U.S. Constitution – Article III. Very generally, the most typical limitation on a federal court deciding the case is that it should involve a federal law, a treaty, an international human right or some section of the constitution. 31. So, can a non-U.S. citizen use the federal courts to sue a parent corporation? Sure. Most likely a claim for personal injuries could be brought under a federal law known as the Alien Torts Claims Act (ATCA) (1789), which must be filed in a federal district court. The Alien Torts Claim Act, an old law that was revived in 1980 in the groundbreaking case of Filártiga v. Pea-Irala1 held that U.S. federal courts can try cases involving a non-citizen who charges a defendant w
