Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/565/368/
Timestamp: 2019-09-21 13:23:09
Document Index: 277306364

Matched Legal Cases: ['§1331', '§1331', '§1331', '§1331', '§1331', '§1331', '§1331', '§227', '§227', '§1331', '§227', '§227', '§1331', '§227', '§227', '§227', '§227', '§1331', '§227', '§1331']

Mims v. Arrow Financial Services, LLC :: 565 U.S. 368 (2012) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center
Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 565 › Mims v. Arrow Financial Services, LLC
Mims v. Arrow Financial Services, LLC, 565 U.S. 368 (2012)
(a) Because federal law creates the right of action and provides the rules of decision, Mims’s TCPA claim, in §1331’s words, plainly “aris[es] under” the “laws . . . of the United States.” Arrow agrees that this action arises under federal law, but urges that Congress vested exclusive adjudicatory authority over private TCPA actions in state courts. In cases “arising under” federal law, there is a presumption of concurrent state-court jurisdiction, rebuttable if “Congress affirmatively ousts the state courts of jurisdiction over a particular federal claim.” Tafflin v. Levitt, 493 U. S. 455 –459. Arrow acknowledges the presumption, but maintains that §1331 creates no converse presumption in favor of federal-court jurisdiction. Instead, Arrow urges, the TCPA, a later, more specific statute, displaces §1331, an earlier, more general prescription.
Section 1331 is not swept away so easily. The principle that district courts possess federal-question jurisdiction under §1331 when federal law creates a private right of action and furnishes the substantive rules of decision endures unless Congress divests federal courts of their §1331 adjudicatory authority. See, e.g., Verizon Md. Inc. v. Public Serv. Comm’n of Md., 535 U. S. 635 . Accordingly, the District Court retains §1331 jurisdiction over Mims’s complaint unless the TCPA, expressly or by fair implication, excludes federal-court adjudication. See id., at 644. Pp. 7–10.
(b) Arrow’s arguments do not persuade this Court that Congress eliminated §1331 jurisdiction over private TCPA actions. Title 47 U. S. C. §227(b)(3)’s language may be state-court oriented, but “the grant of jurisdiction to one court does not, of itself, imply that the jurisdiction is to be exclusive,” United States v. Bank of New York & Trust Co., 296 U. S. 463 . Nothing in §227(b)(3)’s permissive language makes state-court jurisdiction exclusive, or otherwise purports to oust federal courts of their §1331 jurisdiction. The provision does not state that a private plaintiff may bring a TCPA action “only” or “exclusively” in state court. In contrast, 47 U. S. C. A. §227(g)(2) (Supp. 2011) vests “exclusive jurisdiction” over state-initiated TCPA suits in the federal courts. Section 227(g)(2)’s exclusivity prescription “reinforce[s] the conclusion that [ 47 U. S. C. §227(b)(3)’s] silence . . . leaves the jurisdictional grant of §1331 untouched. For where otherwise applicable jurisdiction was meant to be excluded, it was excluded expressly.” Verizon Md., 535 U. S., at 644.
Arrow argues that Congress had no reason to provide for a private action “in an appropriate [state] court,” §227(b)(3), if it did not mean to make the state forum exclusive, for state courts would have concurrent jurisdiction even if Congress had said nothing at all. But, as already noted, Congress had simultaneously made federal-court jurisdiction exclusive in TCPA enforcement actions brought by state authorities, see 47 U. S. C. A. §227(g)(2) (Supp. 2011), and may simply have wanted to avoid any argument that federal jurisdiction was also exclusive for private actions. Moreover, by providing that private actions may be brought in state court “if otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of [the] State,” 47 U. S. C. §227(b)(3), Congress arguably gave States leeway they would otherwise lack to decide whether to entertain TCPA claims.
Arrow further asserts that making state-court jurisdiction over §227(b)(3) claims exclusive serves Congress’ objective of enabling States to control telemarketers whose interstate operations evaded state law. Even so, jurisdiction conferred by 28 U. S. C. §1331 should hold firm against “mere implication flowing from subsequent legislation.” Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U. S. 800 , n. 15. Furthermore, had Congress sought only to fill a gap in the States’ enforcement capabilities, it could have provided that out-of-state telemarketing calls directed into a State would be subject to the receiving State’s laws. Instead, Congress enacted detailed, uniform, federal substantive prescriptions and provided for a regulatory regime administered by a federal agency.
Arrow’s reliance on a statement by Senator Hollings, the TCPA’s sponsor, is misplaced. The remarks nowhere mention federal-court jurisdiction or otherwise suggest that 47 U. S. C. §227(b)(3) is intended to divest federal courts of authority over TCPA claims. Even if Hollings and other TCPA supporters expected private actions to proceed solely in state courts, their expectation would not control this Court’s judgment on §1331’s compass. Arrow’s arguments that federal courts will be inundated by $500-per-violation TCPA claims or that defendants could use federal-court removal to force small-claims-court plaintiffs to abandon suit seem more imaginary than real. Pp. 10–18.
565 U.S. 368