Also known as: Rules Enabling Act · 28 U.S.C. § 2072
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A federal statute authorizing the Supreme Court to prescribe rules of practice and procedure for the federal courts while prohibiting any rule that abridges, enlarges, or modifies any substantive right.
Felicity French sued a corporation in federal court under diversity jurisdiction after an accident at a resort. She served the front-desk supervisor under the federal service rule. The defendant moved to dismiss citing a stricter state service requirement on a subsidiary. The court applied the federal rule and denied the motion.
Fabian Flynn filed a diversity class action against an insurer for underpaid interest on claims. State law barred class actions limited to interest recovery. Flynn moved for certification under the federal class action rule. The court applied the federal rule and permitted the class to proceed.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Faith Fitzgerald appealed a judgment and the appellee sought mandatory damages under a state statute for delay. The federal appellate rule instead made damages discretionary for frivolous appeals. The court followed the federal rule and declined to award automatic damages.
Finn Fletcher sued in federal court and the case was dismissed without prejudice. A later state-court action raised claim-preclusion issues under state law. The court applied the federal rule on the effect of the dismissal and permitted the second suit.
Fernando Farrell sued in an inconvenient federal district despite a contractual forum-selection clause. The defendant moved to transfer under the federal venue statute. The court applied the federal rule and transferred the case.
Flora Ford proposed a class settlement in a mass-tort diversity action. State law imposed additional fairness requirements on aggregated claims. The court applied the federal class action rule to evaluate and approve the settlement.
A Federal Rule controls if it is on point and valid under the Rules Enabling Act because it is at least arguably procedural and does not abridge substantive rights. The forum-shopping test applies only when no federal rule addresses the issue.
Supporting sources
Rule 23 is valid because it regulates only the procedural mechanism for class certification and does not alter the substantive elements of the underlying claims or the remedies available to individual plaintiffs.
Supporting sources
The federal rule governs because it is valid under the Rules Enabling Act and directly addresses the procedural issue of how service is effected. State service requirements yield without further forum-shopping analysis.
Supporting sources
…designed to control service of process in diversity actions,[^maj-3] neither exceeded the congressional mandate embodied in the Rules Enabling Act nor transgressed constitutional bounds, and that the Rule is therefore the standard against which the District Court should have measured the adequacy of the service. Accordingly, we…