Opinion ID: 548692
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Principles of Subject Matter Jurisdiction.

Text: 56 This action was brought pursuant to the statute granting federal question jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1331 (1988). Defendants-appellants contend that the Town has failed properly to invoke that jurisdiction because it has not presented even minimally plausible claims (1) that racketeering activity within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1962(c) (1988), in the form of predicate acts of extortion indictable under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1951 (1988), has occurred; or (2) that the Town has been injured in [its] business or property within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1964(c) (1988). For the reasons that follow, we agree that there is no subject matter jurisdiction over this action. 57 The question of subject matter jurisdiction must be confronted at the threshold of the case. As the Supreme Court stated in Bender v. Williamsport Area School Dist., 475 U.S. 534, 541, 106 S.Ct. 1326, 1331, 89 L.Ed.2d 501: 58 Federal courts are not courts of general jurisdiction; they have only the power that is authorized by Article III of the Constitution and the statutes enacted by Congress pursuant thereto. See e.g., Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch (5 U.S.) 137, 173-180 [2 L.Ed. 60] (1803). For that reason, every federal appellate court has a special obligation to satisfy itself not only of its own jurisdiction, but also that of the lower courts in a cause under review, even though the parties are prepared to concede it. Mitchell v. Maurer, 293 U.S. 237, 244, 55 S.Ct. 162, 165, 79 L.Ed. 338 (1934). See Juidice v. Vail, 430 U.S. 327, 331-332, 97 S.Ct. 1211, 1215, 51 L.Ed.2d 376 (1977) (standing). And if the record discloses that the lower court was without jurisdiction this court will notice the defect, although the parties make no contention concerning it. [When the lower federal court] lack[s] jurisdiction, we have jurisdiction on appeal, not of the merits but merely for the purpose of correcting the error of the lower court in entertaining the suit. United States v. Corrick, 298 U.S. 435, 440, 56 S.Ct. 829, 831-32, 80 L.Ed. 1263 (1936) (footnotes omitted). 59 Consideration of the issue of jurisdiction is not equivalent, however, to an evaluation of the merits of a party's federal claim. Accordingly, a case that cannot survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), may nonetheless properly be in federal court. The Court addressed this distinction in Montana-Dakota Utils. Co. v. Northwestern Pub. Serv. Co., 341 U.S. 246, 249, 71 S.Ct. 692, 694, 95 L.Ed. 912 (1951), as follows: 60 As frequently happens where jurisdiction depends on subject matter, the question whether jurisdiction exists has been confused with the question whether the complaint states a cause of action.... If the complaint raises a federal question, the mere claim confers power to decide that it has no merit, as well as to decide that it has. In the words of Mr. Justice Holmes,     if the plaintiff really makes a substantial claim under an act of Congress there is jurisdiction whether the claim ultimately be held good or bad. The Fair v. Kohler Die & Specialty Co., 228 U.S. 22, 25, 33 S.Ct. 410, 411, 57 L.Ed. 716. 61 In this vein, the Court has fashioned the following test for determining whether federal question jurisdiction exists: 62 [I]t is not necessary to decide whether appellees' alleged cause of action ... is in fact a cause of action on which [appellees] could actually recover. Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 682 [66 S.Ct. 773, 776, 90 L.Ed. 939] (1946). Instead, the test is whether  'the cause of action alleged is so patently without merit as to justify ... the court's dismissal for want of jurisdiction.'  Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 542-43 [94 S.Ct. 1372, 1382, 39 L.Ed.2d 577] (1974), quoting Bell v. Hood, supra, [327 U.S.] at 683 [66 S.Ct. at 776]. (Emphasis added.) See also Oneida Indian Nation v. County of Oneida, 414 U.S. 661, 666 [94 S.Ct. 772, 776, 39 L.Ed.2d 73] (1974) (test is whether right claimed is so insubstantial, implausible, foreclosed by prior decisions of this Court, or otherwise completely devoid of merit as not to involve a federal controversy). 63 Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Envtl. Study Group, Inc., 438 U.S. 59, 70-71, 98 S.Ct. 2620, 2629, 57 L.Ed.2d 595 (1978); see also State of N.Y. Dist. Attorney Investigators v. Richards, 711 F.2d 8, 10 (2d Cir.1983); Giulini v. Blessing, 654 F.2d 189, 192 (2d Cir.1981) (For jurisdictional purposes the test is whether the complaint on its face, without resort to extraneous matter, is so plainly insubstantial as to be devoid of any merits and thus not presenting any issue worthy of adjudication.); George C. Frey Ready-Mixed Concrete, Inc. v. Pine Hill Concrete Mix Corp., 554 F.2d 551, 554 n. 3 (2d Cir.1977). 64 Against this background, we turn to the question whether the Town's RICO claim satisfies this minimal, yet unyielding, jurisdictional standard. 65