A Matter of Jurisdiction Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock have entered into a contract for Kirk to purchase a spaceship for his personal use. Kirk, the buyer, lives in California and Spock's earth residence is in New York. Spock has agreed to sell the spaceship to Kirk for $175,000. At the last minute, Kirk backed out of the contract claiming that he had been called for a mission by the Federation and decided that another ship would be more suitable. In this situation:

1. Does any court system (federal or state) have exclusive jurisdiction over this case? Concurrent jurisdiction?

a. What happened here?

c. What additional facts would you need to know in order to determine whether Spock could file suit in New York?

d. What is exclusive jurisdiction? Would the court have concurrent jurisdiction?

2. What if this was a case where Spock claimed he'd been deprived of his right to freedom of speech under the U.S. Constitution and that his harm was $20,000. Would a federal court have jurisdiction?

b. Would a federal court have jurisdiction?