Opinion ID: 201987
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Application of Kale v. Combined Insurance Co. of America

Text: 8 The present case involves essentially the same procedural missteps made in Kale. In Kale, the plaintiff-appellant Carl Kale filed suit against his former employers in federal court, pleading federal question jurisdiction, but not diversity jurisdiction. Id. at 1163. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant on Kale's federal claims and dismissed without prejudice the related state-law claims. Id. Kale did not seek to amend his complaint in district court to allege diversity jurisdiction but instead filed suit in Massachusetts state court, alleging injuries stemming from the same cause of action. Id. at 1163-64. The defendant removed the state case to federal court based upon diversity jurisdiction and then moved for summary judgment on res judicata grounds. Id. at 1164. The district court granted the motion and we affirmed on appeal. Id. at 1169. We held that Kale's second suit was precluded because he could have pursued his state-law claims in his first suit if he had alleged diversity jurisdiction. Id. at 1166. We also noted that a cursory reference to diversity jurisdiction in a string cite did not adequately raise the issue before the district court. Id. at 1164 n. 1. 9 In the present case, Maher also could have had his state-law claims heard in his first suit if he had asserted diversity jurisdiction. Like Kale, Maher did not plead diversity jurisdiction in his original complaint, nor did he later attempt to amend his complaint to do so. Maher argues, however, that his case is distinguishable from Kale because diversity jurisdiction is apparent on the face of the complaint through the statement of the parties' domiciles. Like Kale's cursory reference to diversity jurisdiction, Maher's reliance on sua sponte action by the district court to assert diversity jurisdiction for him is unavailing. The burden of proving the existence of ... diversity jurisdiction ... lies with the pleader. Kale v. Combined Ins. Co. of Am., 736 F.Supp. 1183, 1184 n. 3 (D.Mass.1990) (citing Thomson v. Gaskill, 315 U.S. 442, 446, 62 S.Ct. 673, 86 L.Ed. 951 (1942)). It is Maher's duty to assert the jurisdictional basis of his claim. 5 10