OHIO Part 37

Personal Jurisdiction

In most civil lawsuits, as opposed to criminal cases, a court's personal jurisdiction is usually based upon where the defendant lives. For example, if you're from Ohio and you're injured in a car accident in Kentucky where the other driver lives, you can't sue the other driver in an Ohio court. That is because the other driver does not have enough contacts or ties with Ohio to justify forcing him to defend a lawsuit in another state.