1.A Subject Matter Jurisdiction Flashcards
How will you start a subject matter jurisdiction question?
Federal district courts are courts of limited jurisdiction.
They have ORIGINAL subject matter jurisdiction over (1) cases ARISING under federal law; OR (2) cases based on diversity of citizenship above a certain amount in controversy.
A motion for lack of subject matter jurisdiction can never be waived, thus the fact that it wasn’t raised earlier would be irrelevant.
State the general rule for diversity of citizenship cases
A federal suit based on diversity of citizenship requires (1) excess of $75K in controversy and (2) complete diversity.
Discuss the “amount in controversy” requirement
To satisfy the amount in controversy (“AIC”) requirement, each plaintiff must have a GOOD FAITH CLAIM that EXCEEDS $75,000, EXCLUSIVE of interests and costs. What is required is a show that there is SOME POSSIBILITY of recovering this amount. For a claim to be dismissed for failure to meet the AIC requirement, it must be a legal certainty that the amount is less than the $75K threshold.
A single plaintiff may aggregate their claims against a single defendant, however, multiple plaintiff’s may not do so – each must meet the AIC requirement separately.
Discuss the “complete diversity” requirement
For complete diversity, no plaintiff may be a citizen of the same state as a defendant.
An individual is a citizen of the state in which they are domiciled (i.e., where they are present and intend to remain for the indefinite future).
Corporations are a citizen of both the state where (i) they are incorporated and (ii) their principal place of business – or “nerve center” of executive decision making – is located.
The court will have diversity jurisdiction over an action between a citizen of a state and an alien, but not over an action between two aliens.
State the rule regarding supplemental jurisdiction
Where the court has original jurisdiction over a matter, the court may also assert supplemental jurisdiction over other claims that are SO RELATED that they form the SAME CASE OR CONTRAVERSY as the original claim – meaning they AROSE out of the SAME TRANSACTION OR OCCURENCE and out of a COMMON NUCLEUS of operative facts.
Needn’t be an independent basis for SMJ.
Plaintiff cannot tack on claim that destroys diversity, but defendant/other party has no such limitations.
What are the CA Distinctions for SMJ?
Limited Civil Case (limited pleadings and discovery) if <$25k (otherwise unlimited).
One plaintiff may aggregate all claims to determine AiC.
Reclassify: via amended complaint seeking different damages amount or via motion court/party (notice and hearing first required). To go from unlimited to limited show >$25k “virtually unobtainable.” To go from limited to unlimited, standard is “possibility.”
Cross compliant can get limited to unlimited (not the other way around).
State the rule for “federal question” jurisdiction
Federal question jurisdiction exists where the cause of action, as stated in a well-pleaded complaint, ARISES UNDER the constitution or federal laws or U.S. treaties. There is no amount in controversy requirement.
The federal question must be INTEGRAL to the cause of action. Cannot be satisfied by anticipatory defenses and artful pleadings.
