Opinion ID: 166561
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Proper Disposition of the Case

Text: 57 In general . . . summary judgment is an inappropriate vehicle for raising a question concerning the court's subject-matter jurisdiction. . . . Therefore, although some courts have entered summary judgment on jurisdictional grounds, the general rule is that it is improper for a district court to enter judgment under Rule 56 for defendant because of a lack of jurisdiction. Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil 3d § 2713, at 235 (citations omitted); see Thompson v. United States, 291 F.2d 67, 68 (10th Cir.1961). When a district court correctly determines that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a case, but incorrectly determines that the lack of subject matter jurisdiction justifies the entry of summary judgment, we have vacated the judgment and remanded the case to the district court for entry of an order dismissing the case. See Thompson, 291 F.2d at 68. 58 Thus, in this case, while the district court correctly determined that Shikles was required to cooperate with the EEOC in order to exhaust his administrative remedies, and correctly determined that Shikles' exhaustion of administrative remedies was a jurisdictional prerequisite to his ADEA suit, the court erred in granting summary judgment to Sprint. Rather, the district court should have dismissed Shikles' case based on a lack of subject matter jurisdiction.