Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Question 1

What are the two types of SMJD in federal court?

Answer 1

Diversity of citizenship or alienage and federal question

Question 2

What are the two basic requirements of diversity jurisdiction?

Answer 2

1. case is US citizen vs. US citizen or US citizen vs. Alien (foreign citizen), AND
2. amount in controversy is $75,000.01 or more

Question 3

What does citizenship mean in the context of diversity jurisdiction?

Answer 3

Domicile

Question 4

What citizenship does a US citizen domiciled in France have?

Answer 4

No citizenship at all for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.

Question 5

If any one plaintiff matches citizenship with any one defendant - is there diversity jurisdiction?

Answer 5

No! The complete diversity rule states that there is no diversity jurisdiction if any plaintiff shares citizenship with any defendant.

Question 6

How many possible citizenships can a natural person have?

Answer 6

1 because they only have 1 domicile.

Question 7

How many possible citizenships can a corporation have?

Answer 7

2 - their place of incorporation and their principle place of business (nerve center/HQ)

Question 8

How many possible citizenships can an unincorporated association have (e.g. Partnership, LLC, etc.)

Answer 8

50 - they have the citizenship of every member of the association.

Question 9

How do you know what a minor or incompetent person’s citizenship is?

Answer 9

Look at what their domicile is - not the domicile of their representative.

Question 10

Is DC a state?

Answer 10

Yes - for the purposes of diversity citizenship.

Question 11

When do you determine whether the case has diversity of citizenship?

Answer 11

At the moment the case is filed. Subsequent changes are irrelevant, as is citizenship at the time of the incident.

Question 12

What determines whether the amount in controversy requirement is met (P’s claim or the amount awarded)?

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

What happens if P’s good faith claim is above $75,000 but she ends up winning $75,000 or less?

Answer 13

This doesn’t defeat diversity subject matter jurisdiction, but P may have to pay D’s litigation costs.

Question 14

When can a plaintiff aggregate claims to get to above $75,000?

Answer 14

When all the claims are by one plaintiff against the same defendant.

Question 15

In a joint tortfeasor case, how is the amount in controversy determined?

Answer 15

By looking at the total amount P is claiming. Aggregation is technically not required because of joint and several liability.

Question 16

How do you know whether claim for injunction meets the AIC requirement?

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

What is required for federal question jurisdiction (FQ)?

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Can a FQ case be brought in state court?

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

When is supplemental jurisdiction needed?

Answer 19

When P or D are seeking to bring in another claim that does not meet either diversity or FQ jurisdiction requirements.

Question 20

What is the test for supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 20

Supplemental jurisdiction will be granted if the claim shares a “common nucleus of operative facts” with the claim that does have federal SMJD.

Question 21

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?

Answer 21

It meets “the test” for supplemental jurisdiction.

Question 22

What is the limitation to supplemental jurisdiction?

Answer 22

The limitation only applies to plaintiffs in diversity cases trying to overcome lack of citizenship diversity.

Question 23

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?

Answer 23

No - plaintiffs cannot overcome a lack of citizenship diversity using supplemental jurisdiction.

Question 24

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?

Answer 24

Yes - D will get supplemental jurisdiction because the limitation does not apply to defendants!

Question 25

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?

Answer 25

Yes - the limitation only applies when a plaintiff is trying to overcome a lack of diversity of citizenship.