Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania
County differences of a case already been taking care of
I was accused of emotional, verbal, and physical abuse and was found not guilty. The child is my fiancee's and his ex. His ex and the child live in different counties than what we do. We had the hearing in their county. I was told when I went to sue her for a bunch of stuff that it was where the actual case took place, if that is so then we should have had the hearing in our county. If that is true, what do I need to do about letting our lawyer know, cuz we got on from their county so we were not charged for a lawyer to ride down there plus the actual hearing? Can we get our money back. Also when I want to sue her do I have to go to her county or can I use my county?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: County differences of a case already been taking care of
To take some one to court the court needs to have both subject matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction.
Subject matter jurisdiction is that the court you seek to hear your case handles the subject matter i.e. Custody.
Personal jurisdiction covers does the court have jurisdiction over the parties. Any court in will have personal jurisdiction over the plaintiff because by filing with a court is considered to give consent to personal jurisdiction. For the defendant they have to live in the jurisdiction of the court or have significant contacts with the area the court has jurisdiction.
Based on what you have stated you may have to go to the defendant's county.
If you have a lawyer he should know what would be the appropriate court.
I don't know who told you it could be someplace else but it if it wasn't your lawyer why take their word for it.
{John}
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