A Surprising Ally: Harnessing the Power of Procedure in Domestic Violence Tort Cases.

Tort remedies for domestic violence, while not new, are not widely used. Many states do not explicitly provide for them, and those that do may find their goals stymied by procedural obstacles that legislatures did not consider. This paper highlights a recent case that the California legislature, leading the country with its specific Domestic Violence tort, likely intended its statutes to cover, thereby providing compensation to the plaintiff. But the case nearly foundered on an objection to personal jurisdiction and required an appellate opinion to reverse the trial court and get the case out of the starting gate. This delay--and the risk to the plaintiff's recovery-- was unnecessary and easily avoidable. Legislators and judges following California's lead in actualizing domestic violence tort remedies should clarify their statutes' jurisdictional reach and the choice-of-law effects in the text of their bills. States have always had a great amount of leeway and vary greatly in their treatment of Domestic Violence torts. In 2024, as some states seek to provide specifically for this remedy for domestic violence survivors, they can preempt procedural challenges--that are especially foreseeable given everything known about tactics employed in Domestic Violence litigation--to truly make DV torts less illusory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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