Q: A lives in Ohio, and was driving his car through Kentucky when he was rear ended by a driver, B, who has domiciles in both Kentucky and Florida. A slightly injured his back, but the doctor at the hospital made a mistake and hurt it even worse than it already was. The doctor, C, put A into a faulty bed, which folded up and further injured A's back. A has reason to believe that C knew the bed was faulty. The bed was made ACME Co., which is a Delaware corporation with a principle place of business in Georgia, but sells beds all over the world. A comes to you, his lawyer, and wants to know who he has a cause of action against, and in what jurisdiction. How would you advise him?
A: I would tell A to write a letter to all of the courts in all of the potential jurisdictions to find out if there is jurisdiction over the clients and which jusge wants to hear the case. Then I would advise A to write a letter to other lawyers to find out what cause of action he might have against B, C, and ACME. Next, I would advise A to write to different process servers to see who might be interested in actually serving the potential defendants with due process. If time permitted, I would advise A to contact other accident victims to see if they have any suggestions as to jurisdiction and cause of action. Finally, I would advise A to include a writing sample in each of his letters.
