Week Thirteen, Part 2 - Immunity Days

In his continual quest to remind me how feeble my mind is, Professor Joseph Bauer steers the CivPro discussion into the murky waters of supplemental jurisdiction.

“Supp J” is an umbrella term for both pendant and ancillary jurisdiction. In the margin of my casebook, I’ve written, “how to get other issues or parties into fed court.”

Bauer’s explanation is more precise. He says that pendant jurisdiction allows plaintiffs to pursue additional state-law claims in federal court by appending them to a related, federal question. We learn in United Mine Workers v. Gibbs that there must be a “common nucleus of operative facts” between the claims.

Ancillary jurisdiction is similar, but applies to additional parties involved in the same transaction or occurrence.

We turn to Owen Equipment & Erection Co. v. Kroger, a Supreme Court case decided in 1978. Bauer scans his list of remaining victims, then reads my name!

I’m shocked, both to be called on and that the Evil Genius has pronounced tuh-loy-uhn exactly right. My hands freeze on the keyboard.

There is no way I can answer questions on Kroger. Sure, I’ve read the canned brief. I even skimmed the case. But I don’t understand the legal issues! Not at all.

I have no more ability to discuss “whether a federal court in a diversity case may exercise ancillary jurisdiction over the plaintiff's claims against a third-party defendant who is a citizen of the same state” than I do quantum physics.

Unfortunately, Professor Bauer doesn’t realize this fact. "Several years after plaintiff Kroger amended her complaint to include a third party," he says, "the Supreme Court dismissed the action.”

I can feel him closing in.

“The Court held that with respect to the non-federal claim, the federal courts could not exercise jurisdiction.”

Bauer won’t even give me the pleasure of answering the factual questions.

“So, Mrs. Kroger has to start all over again. But where? State court?”

Bauer looks at me, waiting.

My voice is shaky. “Isn't it Immunity Days?”

Bauer waits a good ten seconds. “Yes.”

“And you’re a participating professor?”

He nods.

All week I’ve seen posters in the law school lounge:

IMMUNITY DAYS
bought to you by
SOCIAL JUSTICE FORUM
Wednesday, November 15
Thursday, November 16

The small print explains that students can “buy” their way out of class participation by offering non-perishable food items to be used in Thanksgiving baskets.

“Brought two cans of SpaghettiOs,” I announce.

Bauer smirks. “Let’s have ‘em then.” He points to his right. On the floor I see a cardboard box the size of a small desk. It's empty.

“They're upstairs in my backpack. I wasn’t sure how immunity worked.”

“After class, make sure you get 'em here.”

“Yes, sir.”

Bauer looks back toward his list. All around the room, students rummage in their bags. Campbell’s soup. Del Monte corn. Ramen noodles. On each desk ledge across the lecture hall, we set our modern-day charms against Socratic torture.

“Looks like a supermarket,” he says.

We laugh.

“Okay, I’ll do the talking for a while,” Bauer says. “I was asking where Mrs. Kroger could file. In state court? The statute of limitations may have run.” He points us to a footnote in the decision. It says that Iowa law could bar an action in a state court, depending on the statute of limitations.

“In essence, the Supreme Court is saying ‘whether you proceed is not our problem.’” Bauer strokes his beard. “There’s something fundamentally troubling about this rule. Mrs. Kroger is S.O.L.”

We laugh. Sorry Outta Luck. Statute Of Limitations. Is he making a connection?

We look at the Court’s rationale again and Bauer finds it wanting. “Don’t give me a technical reason!” he says, apparently addressing the Supreme Court itself. “Give me something my sense of justice can understand!!”

Bauer concludes by telling us that if a similar situation happened today, a party would have at least 30 days to file in state court. “Of course, that’s no consolation to Mrs. Kroger.”

Class ends and as I shut down my laptop, students file past me. “Good job.” “Way to go.” “You’re the bomb.”

I walk back to my cube and fish out the SpaghettiOs. Terri bought them as a treat for Lauren’s lunch.

Sorry, Sugar.

By the time I make it back to the classroom, Bauer is gone. I drop my cans in the collection box, now full, thanks in small part to me.

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