How is jurisdiction determined in the american court system

A number of factors influence jurisdiction in the American Court system.

The first is subject matter: is the case a small claim? bankruptcy? tax? federal? state?

All of those questions will influence if a case ends up in Federal Bankruptcy Court, Federal Tax Court, State Small Claims Court, State District Court, or others.

The next is where the people involved in the case are from. This is an often contested claim where lawyers will fight to have a case heard in a particular district or state, depending on where the people are from and what the landscape of a particular state is like on a particular issue.

All in all, lawyers will file in a particular court after an analysis of the issues at hand.