In-State Invocation of Diversity Jurisdiction: Theories

Abstract

state court. The restriction is grounded on the assumption that an in-state party need not invoke diversity jurisdiction to protect against state bias because any state bias should run in that in-state defendant's favor. But Congress has not-at least not currently-restricted in-state plaintiffs from invoking federal diversity jurisdiction when suing out-of-state defendants. Why is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps Congress assumed that in-state plaintiffs simply would not invoke diversity jurisdiction. Empirical evidence, however, refutes that assumption. Studies suggest that a sizable percentage of the federal diversity docket-somewhere between 20% and 50%-are cases filed in federal court by in-state plaintiffs.