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Greiner Civil Procedure Version 02

Hess v. Pawloski

In Kane, the New Jersey officers arrested the out-of-state driver while they were in New Jersey.  Even under Pennoyer, the question of personal jurisdiction was thus somewhat simple:  New Jersey "tagged" (by arresting) the driver while the driver was in state.

This case presents the more difficult question:  what can a state do with/to a driver who allegedly causes an accident in a state but who leaves the state before being tagged?  Can the state empower a plaintiff to proceed against the allegedly responsible driver in its own courts, meaning the courts of the state in which the accident took place?  Or must a plaintiff sue the driver in the courts of the driver's home state (or, to take Pennoyer to the extreme, in whatever jurisdiction the driver can be tagged)?