Subject Matter Jurisdiction Flashcards
What are the two types of SMJD in federal court?
Diversity of citizenship or alienage and federal question
What are the two basic requirements of diversity jurisdiction?
- case is US citizen vs. US citizen or US citizen vs. Alien (foreign citizen), AND
- amount in controversy is $75,000.01 or more
What does citizenship mean in the context of diversity jurisdiction?
Domicile
What citizenship does a US citizen domiciled in France have?
No citizenship at all for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.
If any one plaintiff matches citizenship with any one defendant - is there diversity jurisdiction?
No! The complete diversity rule states that there is no diversity jurisdiction if any plaintiff shares citizenship with any defendant.
How many possible citizenships can a natural person have?
1 because they only have 1 domicile.
How many possible citizenships can a corporation have?
2 - their place of incorporation and their principle place of business (nerve center/HQ)
How many possible citizenships can an unincorporated association have (e.g. Partnership, LLC, etc.)
50 - they have the citizenship of every member of the association.
How do you know what a minor or incompetent person’s citizenship is?
Look at what their domicile is - not the domicile of their representative.
Is DC a state?
Yes - for the purposes of diversity citizenship.
When do you determine whether the case has diversity of citizenship?
At the moment the case is filed. Subsequent changes are irrelevant, as is citizenship at the time of the incident.
What determines whether the amount in controversy requirement is met (P’s claim or the amount awarded)?
The plaintiff’s good faith claim is what determines whether the AIC requirement is met, unless it is clear to a legal certainty that P cannot recover more than $75,000.
What happens if P’s good faith claim is above $75,000 but she ends up winning $75,000 or less?
This doesn’t defeat diversity subject matter jurisdiction, but P may have to pay D’s litigation costs.
When can a plaintiff aggregate claims to get to above $75,000?
When all the claims are by one plaintiff against the same defendant.
In a joint tortfeasor case, how is the amount in controversy determined?
By looking at the total amount P is claiming. Aggregation is technically not required because of joint and several liability.
How do you know whether claim for injunction meets the AIC requirement?
Look at the claim from two perspectives:
1. Does the encroachment decrease the value of P’s property by more than $75,000? If yes –> AIC met.
OR 2. Would it cost D more than $75,000 to comply with the injunction? If yes –> AIC met.
What is required for federal question jurisdiction (FQ)?
complaint (on its face) must show an interest founded substantially on federal law (the claim must “arise under” federal law).
P must be asking the court to enforce a federal right.
Can a FQ case be brought in state court?
Yes - most FQ cases can be brought in either federal or state court, unless the federal law has specifically identified the case as only for federal court: patent, bankruptcy, securities, antitrust, etc.
When is supplemental jurisdiction needed?
When P or D are seeking to bring in another claim that does not meet either diversity or FQ jurisdiction requirements.
What is the test for supplemental jurisdiction?
Supplemental jurisdiction will be granted if the claim shares a “common nucleus of operative facts” with the claim that does have federal SMJD.
If a claim that requires supplemental jurisdiction arises out of the same T/O as the underlying claim (that has SMJD), what do you know?
It meets “the test” for supplemental jurisdiction.
What is the limitation to supplemental jurisdiction?
The limitation only applies to plaintiffs in diversity cases trying to overcome lack of citizenship diversity.
If P is seeking to bring in a state law claim against a D who is the same citizenship as P - is there supplemental jurisdiction if it arises out of the same T/O?
No - plaintiffs cannot overcome a lack of citizenship diversity using supplemental jurisdiction.
If the case has FQ jurisdiction, and P and D are citizens of the same state, can D counterclaim against P on a state law claim based from the same T/O as the underlying claim?
Yes - D will get supplemental jurisdiction because the limitation does not apply to defendants!
If the case has diversity jurisdiction, and P wants to bring another claim against one of the D’s that does not meet the AIC requirement, but it does arise under the same T/O as the underlying claim - can she?
Yes - the limitation only applies when a plaintiff is trying to overcome a lack of diversity of citizenship.
