Monday, June 23, 2008

SUmmary 2008 WY 71

Summary of Decision issued June 23, 2008

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Case Name: State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. v. Kunz

Citation: 2008 WY 71

Docket Number: S-07-0177

Certified question from the District Court of Goshen County, the Honorable Keith G. Kautz, Judge.

Representing Appellant (Plaintiff): Billie Ruth Edwards, Edwards & Johnson, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee (Defendant): No appearance.

Facts/Discussion: The question arose from an apparent conflict in statutory language governing subject matter jurisdiction of circuit courts and statutory language relating to service of process on non-resident motorists.

Answer: The circuit court has subject matter jurisdiction over a civil suit brought against a non-resident, where the prayer for recovery requests less than $7,000.00. Circuit courts’ subject matter jurisdiction over civil matters is governed by Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 5-9-128 and is not impacted by the method of service of process. The portion of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-6-301(c) relied upon by State Farm addresses venue and does not confer subject matter jurisdiction on a district court in a civil action where the amount in controversy does not exceed $7,000.00.

J. Burke delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/56ljfa .

[SPECIAL NOTE: This opinion uses the "Universal Citation." It was given an "official" citation when it was issued. You should use this citation whenever you cite the opinion, with a P.3d parallel citation. Please note when you look at the opinion that all of the paragraphs are numbered. When you pinpoint cite to a quote, you should cite to this paragraph number rather than to any page number. If you need assistance in putting together a citation using the Universal Citation form, please contact the Wyoming State Law Library.]

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