Opinion ID: 200765
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals

Text: 24 If a cause of action is not created under a federal law, § 1331 jurisdiction may lie `where the vindication of a right under state law necessarily turn[s] on some construction of federal law.' Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Thompson, 478 U.S. 804, 808-09, 106 S.Ct. 3229, 92 L.Ed.2d 650 (1986) (quoting Franchise Tax Bd., 463 U.S. at 9, 103 S.Ct. 2841). This legal quandary is generally referred to as the litigation-provoking problem, or the presence of a federal issue in a state-created cause of action. Merrell Dow, 478 U.S. at 809-10, 106 S.Ct. 3229. In Merrell Dow, the Supreme Court held that the district court did not have jurisdiction under § 1331, where the plaintiff alleged a state tort claim but pointed to federal law as evidence of the standard of care. Given that there was no private right of action under the federal law in question, the Court proceeded to examine whether a substantial question of law was implicated. It held that the presence of the federal issue as an element of the state tort is not the kind of adjudication for which jurisdiction would serve congressional purposes and the federal system. Id. at 814, 106 S.Ct. 3229. The Court then analyzed the plaintiff's arguments regarding the federal interest in uniformity and the special circumstances implicated in the case. The Court found both arguments unavailing, and found no subject matter jurisdiction.