Talk:State court

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Is there a way to get a paternity test after you have been found to be the father by default? I recently got home from the war and was moving around a lot. When I finally got home and recieved all my mail my ex-wife had a baby and said I was the father and since I didn't deny it I am now having my wages garnished for a kid that is not mine, i wasn't even in the state when she got pregnant. Since everyone is big on dead beat dads i can't get any help with it. I was told i will have to pay for it myself, which i can't afford cause my wages are being garnished. Please someone give me some good advice!!

I restored a change from "connection to a U.S. state" to "tried under the laws of a U.S. state" for accuracy because, while few people know this, U.S. state courts have jurisdiction to try cases arising under the law of another state, the law of a foreign country, or federal law. The subject of which law is applied by a state court is known as "choice of law" and is quite complex. To give a simple example, suppose a Colorado man assaults a Colorado woman in Paris, and she wants to sue him for the medical costs she sustained in the assault (I've represented a party in a simliar case). A Colorado state court would have jurisdiction over the case, notwithstanding the fact that the incident didn't take place in Colorado. This is because Colorado courts has a connection with the case, and French law would govern to the extent it is different from Colorado law (e.g. if French law prohibited cohabitants from sueing each other, that would be a valid defense). Both Colorado courts and federal courts in Colorado, at least, would have jurisdiction over this case if the man was from Colorado, the woman was from Maine, and the amount of damages claimed exceeded $75,000. Ohwilleke 21:22, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I concur. Also, on top of that, there is the mess created by the Erie doctrine. Federal district courts sitting in jurisdiction founded upon diversity of citizenship of the parties can and often do end up trying cases under state substantive law even though there is no federal question. So that's another reason why "tried under the law of a U.S. state is inaccurate," because a federal district court is clearly a different creature than a state court, yet it can also try cases under the substantive law of a state. --Coolcaesar 03:06, 23 January 2007 (UTC)