Fall 2026
Class meeting time: Monday and Wednesday 1:00-2:50 pm
Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 3:00-4:00 pm; Tuesday 9:00 am - 12:00 p.m.
Required Materials
(1) Joseph W. Glannon, Andrew M. Perlman, Peter Raven-Hansen, and Jennifer Reynolds, Civil Procedure: A Coursebook (5th ed. 2025), ISBN 9781543843781
(2) other materials distributed to you via links on this website or USD's Canvas; and
(3) provisions in the following laws that I assign as reading: U.S. Constitution; Title 28 of the U.S. Code (28 U.S.C. §§ 1-5001); Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Fed. R. Civ. P. 1-86); California Code of Civil Procedure (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 1-2107); Rules and Laws for Civil Actions (open-access PDF with these laws)
Reading Assignments
I. Introduction
8/17: Pages 3-40 of the Glannon coursebook (CB) and
• U.S. Constitution: Article I, Section 8, Clause 9 (“To constitute tribunals...”) and Article III, Section 1 (Judicial Power Vested)
• Title 28 of the U.S. Code: 28 U.S.C. §§ 1, 41, 84, 2072
• Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) 1, 79, 81
• Optional materials: (1) Orin Kerr, How to Read a Legal Opinion, 11 Green Bag 2d 51 (2007); (2) Skim the Docket, Complaint, Answer, and Jury Verdict in Stone Brewing Co. v. Molson Coors Brewing Co., No. 3:18-cv-0331 (filed Feb. 2, 2018) and read this Reuters article about the case
II. Subject Matter Jurisdiction
8/19: CB 43-76 of chapter 3 (subject matter jurisdiction – diversity jurisdiction) and
• U.S. Constitution Article III, Section 2 (Scope of Judicial Power)
• U.S. Constitution: Amendment XIV (Fourteenth), Section 1
• 28 U.S.C. § 1251
• 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)-(c), (e)
8/24: CB 76-109 of chapters 3 and 4 (diversity jurisdiction cont’d; federal question jurisdiction) and
• 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1338
• 15 U.S.C. § 1121
8/26: CB 110-45 of chapter 4 (federal question jurisdiction cont’d) and
• 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a)-(c)
• 28 U.S.C. § 1446(a)-(d)
• 28 U.S.C. § 1447
III. Personal Jurisdiction
IV. Venue
V. Pleading
VI. Joinder and Supplemental Jurisdiction
VII. Discovery
VIII. Choice of Law
IX. Trial and Pretrial
X. After Final Judgment