Forum shopping

Forum shopping is the informal name given to the practice adopted by some litigants to get their legal case heard in the court thought most likely to provide a favorable judgment. Some states have, for example, become notorious as plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions and so have become litigation magnets even though there is little or no connection between the legal issues and the jurisdiction in which they are to be litigated. Through its expansive acceptance of personal jurisdiction, the United States has also attracted foreign litigants wishing to take advantage of the more generous awards of damages and alimony, extensive discovery rules, and the contingent fee system. In addition, the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act, the Alien Tort Claims Act, and many state product liability laws create legal rights that often do not exist in other jurisdictions.

The standard preliminary issue in every case is the determination of whether the court has jurisdiction and, if so, whether it is the most appropriate forum. These determinations are generally referred to as personal jurisdiction and venue. The principle expressed as forum non conveniens, Latin for "inconvenient forum", allows a judge to transfer a case if the court selected is not the most convenient for the case. If the courts in two states would accept civil jurisdiction, the plaintiff must be able to show that justice requires the trial to take place in the plaintiff's proposed forum.