Bar Exam Rule Statements Practice Test 2026 - Free Bar Exam Practice Questions and Rule Statements Guide

Venue in federal court is governed by 28 U.S.C. § 1391, which provides three main bases for proper venue. The most direct basis here is that a civil action may be brought in a district where a defendant resides, if all defendants reside in the same State. When every defendant lives in the forum state, the case may be filed in the district within that state where a defendant resides. This matches the chosen answer precisely: it uses the defendant’s residence in the forum state's districts as the proper venue.

If you only relied on the plaintiff’s residence, that would not generally establish proper venue in federal court, so option pointing to the plaintiff’s residency is not correct. Also, venue based on where a substantial part of the claim arose is a separate basis under § 1391(b)(2), but it only applies when that condition is met, and it isn’t as clear-cut as the all-defendants-in-the-same-state rule. Finally, venue is not determined by whether the court has personal jurisdiction over the plaintiff; personal jurisdiction over the defendant is relevant for the fallback rule, but not in the sense of “over the plaintiff.”