Pg 10

Question 1

When a suit is a representative action, how does citizenship work?

Answer 1

Citizenship is that of the person being represented

Question 2

What is required to be a citizen?

Answer 2

The person must be domiciled in a state and be a citizen of the United States.

Question 3

If someone is living in the United States but is not admitted for permanent residence, what are they considered to be?

Answer 3

A foreign citizen

Question 4

Are the words resident and citizen interchangeable?

Answer 4

No, so you always have to write “alien admitted to the United States for permanent residence” if you want to be sure that he is deemed a citizen

Question 5

What happens if a party was improperly or collusively made or joined to a suit just to create jurisdiction?

Answer 5

They are held not to have jurisdiction

Question 6

Sometimes even if there’s no true diversity, courts will find diversity if what?

Answer 6

The non-diverse party is just a formal or nominal party

Question 7

What is included in the amount in controversy that is required for diversity jurisdiction?

Answer 7

This is the amount of the demand, or the value of the property and is exclusive of interest, attorney fees, and costs. The claim must be for more than $75,000 at the date of commencement

Question 8

What is the rationale behind having an amount in controversy for diversity cases?

Answer 8

To keep minor diversity cases out of federal court

Question 9

What is the good faith standard that applies to the amount in controversy for diversity jurisdiction?

Answer 9

The good faith amount that is claimed by the plaintiff controls unless it is proven to a legal certainty to be less than $75,000

Question 10

Who has the burden to show that the amount in controversy is met for diversity jurisdiction?

Answer 10

Party that is invoking diversity

Question 11

What does the “in controversy” part of amount in controversy mean for diversity jurisdiction?

Answer 11

The plaintiff doesn’t have to recover $75,000, but there must be a legitimate debate about more than $75 000.

Question 12

If it is clear to a legal certainty that the plaintiff definitely will not recover the amount in controversy for diversity jx, what will happen?

Answer 12

The court will dismiss the case for failure to meet the monetary threshold

Question 13

How does aggregation or stacking of claims work for amount in controversy for diversity jurisdiction?

Answer 13

This allows you to add together amounts to reach the amount in controversy.
– If one plaintiff has one/more claims against one defendant: he can add these together to get the $75,000, even if they are unrelated. The P can combine any claim he has against the D
– If there are many plaintiffs against one defendant: they can be added if the plaintiffs have a common undivided ownership, otherwise they cannot be stacked
– If it is one plaintiff against numerous defendants, then the AIC must be met for each defendant. Unless both defendants could be liable for the injury which totals the AIC amount, then the plaintiff can recover from either one. This is for claims that are common or indivisible

Question 14

If someone is suing for the same amount under different tort theories, can they be aggregated to meet the AIC for diversity jurisdiction?

Answer 14

No, because the person can only recover one amount even if he wins on both theories

Question 15

What should you be mindful of for punitive damages if you are including them in the aggregate to meet an AIC for diversity jurisdiction?

Answer 15

Make sure that no state law bars punitive damages, otherwise the aggregate may not be met

Question 16

What is supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 16

When federal and state claims are combined. For judicial economy or consistency, the federal court can decide all issues in one proceeding.

The court then applies the state law to the supplemental claim.

This happens when the claim doesn’t have independent subject matter jurisdiction in federal court on its own, but it gets added onto a claim that does

Question 17

If a new plaintiff joins a claim and one plaintiff meets the AIC and the other one doesn’t, does the federal court have supplemental jurisdiction over the one that doesn’t?

Answer 17

Yes

Question 18

If there has been a violation of a federal act and a state law violation, but there is no diversity jurisdiction, is it possible to take the federal claim into federal court and allow the state claim to ride on its coattails?

Answer 18

Yes through supplemental jurisdiction if the state law claim came from a common nucleus of operative facts

Question 19

What are the elements for supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 19

– the supplemental claim must be sufficiently related to the main one so that a “case“ exists
– consider the category of the case, because diversity jurisdiction is treated less favorably
– there’s no need for supplemental jurisdiction if there is an independent basis for jx

Question 20

What are the two different kinds of supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 20

– Traditional supplemental jurisdiction (old rules)

– Statutory supplemental jurisdiction (modern rules)

Question 21

What is traditional supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 21

This provides two different ways for a state claim to go to federal court.
- pendant jurisdiction
– ancillary jurisdiction

Question 22

What is included in pendent jurisdiction for traditional supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 22

The plaintiff asserts a proper claim against a non-diverse party and has a related state law claim that arose out of the same transaction. Under article 3, the court has the constitutional power to hear the entire dispute and the other claims arising out of the same common nucleus of operative facts/the same set of facts. As long as the court has the power to hear the claim, and it makes sense to exercise jurisdiction, this is ok

Question 23

What are some factors to consider when deciding if traditional supplemental jurisdiction under pendent jurisdiction should be allowed?

Answer 23

If the state law predominates, if the court has to decide novel or sensitive issues of state law, if the claims together would confuse the jury, if the federal issues were resolved early on and all that is left is state law claims

Question 24

If the court decides to decline jurisdiction over state law claims and dismiss them, but there are federal legitimate claims, what happens?

Answer 24

The federal claims are heard in federal court and the state claim is dismissed and then has to be brought in a separate suit in state court

Question 25

What is ancillary jurisdiction under traditional supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 25

This is the power to hear matters that are related to the plaintiff’s claim by another party even though they wouldn’t normally be able to hear it, if there is a logical relationship to the main claim. The plaintiff or defendant injects the claim that lacks an independent basis for federal jurisdiction through a counter claim, cross claim, or third-party complaint

Question 26

What is involved in statutory supplemental jurisdiction under the modern rules?

Answer 26

This is a codification of pendant and ancillary jurisdiction plus the nucleus of operative facts. The federal courts can hear related state claims that arise from the same facts as the federal claims. If a plaintiff brings a proper federal question claim or diversity claim, the court can hear all claims that are part of the same case and controversy

Question 27

What is required in order for a court to exercise statutory supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 27

Constitutional power to hear the related claim and the statutory authority to hear it. If there is no statutory authority the plaintiff has to bring two suits, one in federal court and the other in state court, or one action in state court asking for relief for both claims

Question 28

What are the elements that are required to get statutory supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 28

– The court decides if it has the constitutional power under article 3 to hear the supplemental claim: the proper claim is in the jurisdiction of the federal court and the related claim arises from the same nucleus of operative facts. I.e.: you can’t have an assault suit and then bring an old debt suit
– The court decides if it has a statutory grant of jurisdiction over the related claim. Federal courts have broad authority to hear related state claims if they are part of the same case
– Courts consider discretionary factors to see if they will hear the claim

Question 29

What are the limits on supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 29

It doesn’t extend to certain claims by the plaintiffs in diversity cases. If the district court has original jurisdiction solely based on diversity, it doesn’t have supplemental jurisdiction over claims by the plaintiffs against other persons that were made parties under FR 14, 19, 20, or 24 when exercising supplemental jurisdiction will be inconsistent with jurisdictional requirements of diversity jurisdiction

Question 30

What happens to the statute of limitations for all claims in the same action that get voluntarily dismissed?

Answer 30

The SOL is tolled while the claim is pending and for 30 days after dismissal unless the state law gives a longer period

Question 31

How do courts have discretion with regard to supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 31

They have discretion to decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction in these situations:
- novel or complex issues of state law
– the state claim substantially predominates over the claim that the court has jurisdiction over [the tail is wagging the dog]
– all federal claims have already been knocked out of the case, so the court can dismiss the state claims to be re-filed somewhere else
– the court has compelling reasons to decline jurisdiction