Opinion ID: 1445268
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Feasibility in the Diversity Context

Text: As we explained above, necessary parties should be joined if [f]easible. Fed.R.Civ.P. 19(a). In the traditional analysis, when the court's subject matter jurisdiction is grounded in diversity, the joinder of a nondiverse party is not feasible because such joinder destroys the court's subject matter jurisdiction. In re Olympic Mills Corp., 477 F.3d 1, 8 (1st Cir.2007); Acton, 668 F.2d at 79. It is axiomatic that [f]ederal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994). The statutory grant of federal jurisdiction in diversity cases gives district courts original jurisdiction of all civil actions where the matter in controversy . . . is between . . . citizens of different States. 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a). This statutory grant requires complete diversity between the plaintiffs and defendants in an action. Strawbridge v. Curtiss, 7 U.S. (3 Cranch) 267, 2 L.Ed. 435 (1806); Halleran v. Hoffman, 966 F.2d 45, 47 (1st Cir.1992). Thus, under the traditional analysis, if the matter in controversy involves a necessary, nondiverse absentee, the court must determine whether the litigation may continue in the absence of this person or whether she is so indispensable that the court should dismiss the case for want of subject matter jurisdiction. Acton, 668 F.2d at 80. As we discuss in Part III below, the Picciottos contend that this traditional analysis has been dramatically altered by the adoption of the supplemental jurisdiction statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1367, in 1990. They argue, in effect, that the supplemental jurisdiction statute means that, even in diversity cases, the joinder of nondiverse parties, when no claims are asserted against them, is now feasible. This novel contention would obviate the need to conduct an indispensability analysis because Casher's joinder would be feasible. However, before we address that alternative approach, we first proceed with the indispensability analysis, premised on the traditional notion that Casher's joinder as a defendant [12] would not be feasible because the Picciottos and Casher are both Massachusetts citizens.