Marla owns a home in a rural area of maryland. She invites her friend nick, a resident of virginia, over for dinner. In order to reach Marla's house from the road, Nick has to walk over an extremely rocky, until path. Nick trips on the path and breaks his ankle. Because nick already had a debilitating old leg injury, the cost to repair his ankle was $100,000. The average cost of broken ankle for a person who didn't have a preexisting injury is $75,000. Nick sues Marla in Maryland State Court for negligence. Marla successfully impleads her homeowner's insurance company, which is based in virginia. Marla is also potentially interested in removing the case into Federal Court. You and Marla's attorney and are tasked with answering the following questions:

a. Can the Maryland State Court hear this case? why or why not?

b. Could this case be heard in Federal court? why or why not?

c. Once Marla is served with the lawsuit, what options does she have as a defendant? what would happen if she ignores the summons?

d. If the case did make it into court, would Nick likely succeed on the merits of his negligence claim?

e. Assume that Nick wins the case at trial, how much would he be awarded in compensatory damages?