When subject-matter jurisdiction is based on diversity, the presence of a limited liability company or a partnership on the pleadings may require a complicated and time-consuming investigation into that party’s citizenship. The Eleventh Circuit’s decision in J.C. Penney Corporation v. Oxford Mall, LLC, No. 22-12461, 2024 WL 1904569 (May 1, 2024), is an example of…
Tag: Subject-matter jurisdiction
Rule 41(a) May Only Dismiss an Entire Action, Not a Single Count
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) outlines the procedure for voluntary dismissals of “an action” at the parties’ request. The Eleventh Circuit, in an opinion written by Judge Britt Grant, has again emphasized that “[a]ny attempt to use this rule to dismiss a single claim, or anything less than the entire action will be invalid.”…
Eleventh Circuit Decision Highlights Difficulty of Invoking Federal-Question Jurisdiction Over Claim for Declaratory Relief
The United States Constitution created federal courts of limited subject-matter jurisdiction. Thus, a party filing suit in federal court must assert a claim arising under federal law or demonstrate that the litigants are citizens of different states. Generally, a claim brought pursuant to the federal Declaratory Judgment Act is alone insufficient to invoke federal-question jurisdiction….
Class Action Seeking Reinstatement of Life Insurance Policies Was Properly Removed to Federal Court
In Anderson v. Wilco Life Ins. Co., 2019 WL 6242199 (11th Cir. Nov. 22, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit reversed the district court’s order remanding to state court a putative class action against a life insurance company. The case had been properly removed under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), the appeals court held, because the…
Alleged Economic Loss from Purchasing Illegal Dietary Supplements Is Sufficient to Establish Standing
Allegations that plaintiffs suffered an economic loss when they bought dietary supplements prohibited by a federal statute are sufficient to establish standing to bring a class action against the supplement manufacturer and distributor, according to the Eleventh Circuit. In Debernardis v. IQ Formulations, LLC, 2019 WL 5996589 (11th Cir. Nov. 14, 2019), two individual plaintiffs…
Legal Challenge by Frustrated Supporters of 2016 Bernie Sanders Campaign Rejected
As the country approaches the next presidential election in 2020, the Eleventh Circuit closed the book on a putative class action filed by supporters of Bernie Sanders during his last bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination in 2016. Wilding v. DNC Services Corp., 2019 WL 5539021 (11th Cir. Oct. 28, 2019), “pit[ted] a political party…
Eleventh Circuit Joins Majority of Circuits in Holding That FAA Prohibits Pre-Hearing Discovery From Non-Parties
After twenty years of litigation in Managed Care Advisory Group, LLC v. Cigna Healthcare, Inc., 2019 WL 4464301 (Sept. 18, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit issued a per curiam opinion reversing the enforcement of arbitral summonses and holding that the FAA implicitly withholds the power to compel documents from non-parties without summoning them to testify. Beginning…
Class-Action Plaintiff Lacks Standing to Challenge Policy Interpretation After Exhaustion of Personal Insurance Benefits
Citing a lack of standing, the Eleventh Circuit threw out an insurance class action that had been pending for several years in A&M Gerber Chiropractic LLC v. GEICO General Insurance Co., 2019 WL 1746869 (11th Cir. Apr. 19, 2019), leaving unsettled an “important issue” related to personal-injury-protection (PIP) benefits under Florida’s Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law….
Unregistered Copyright Does Not Preclude Federal Jurisdiction
Capping off an October trio of copyright decisions, the Eleventh Circuit in Fastcase, Inc. v. Lawriter, LLC, 2018 WL 5318148 (11th Cir. Oct. 29, 2018), confirmed that the failure to register a copyright does not defeat federal subject-matter jurisdiction (though it may doom an infringement claim under Rule 12(b)(6)). The court also held that a…
Remediation Plans Don’t Necessarily Moot Independent Claims for Similar Injunctive Relief Under the ADA
Can a remediation plan designed to settle one lawsuit moot claims for similar injunctive relief in another case? Maybe in some contexts, but the Eleventh Circuit rejected that argument on the facts presented in Haynes v. Hooters of America, LLC, 2018 WL 3030840 (11th Cir. June 19, 2018), an ADA dispute over website accessibility for…