Opinion ID: 1315301
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The majority confuses subject matter jurisdiction with the merits.

Text: Federal courts have an `unflagging' duty to hear cases that are properly before them. Cinema Arts, Inc. v. County of Clark, 722 F.2d 579, 582 (9th Cir.1983) (quoting Colo. River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 817, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976)). The majority shirks this responsibility by closing the courthouse door to plaintiffs who raise colorable claims under federal law. See Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bruch, 489 U.S. 101, 117-18, 109 S.Ct. 948, 103 L.Ed.2d 80 (1989) (In order to establish that he or she may become eligible for benefits [under ERISA], a claimant must have a colorable claim that (1) he or she will prevail in a suit for benefits, or that (2) eligibility requirements will be fulfilled in the future.). In so doing, the majority ignores fundamental Supreme Court precedent and makes the mistake of conflating our jurisdictional inquiry with an inquiry into the merits of Plaintiffs' claims. We recently explored the distinction between a lack of subject matter jurisdiction and a failure to state a federal claim on the merits, also in the ERISA context. In Cement Masons Health & Welfare Trust Fund v. Stone, 197 F.3d 1003, 1005 (9th Cir.1999), the district court had dismissed an ERISA claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. We agreed that the complaint should have been dismissed, but held that the decision should have been made on the merits rather than for want of subject matter jurisdiction. Id. We explained: The failure to state a federal claim, either on the pleadings or the facts, is not the same thing as a failure to establish subject matter jurisdiction. Any nonfrivolous assertion of a federal claim suffices to establish federal question jurisdiction, even if that claim is later dismissed on the merits. As the Supreme Court wrote in Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 682, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946), Jurisdiction ... is not defeated ... by the possibility that the averments might fail to state a cause of action on which petitioners could actually recover.... If the court ... exercise[s] its jurisdiction to determine that the allegations in the complaint do not state a ground for relief, then dismissal of the case would be based on the merits, not for want of jurisdiction. See also Wheeldin v. Wheeler, 373 U.S. 647, 649, 83 S.Ct. 1441, 10 L.Ed.2d 605 (1963) (We agree ... that on the face of the complaint the federal court had jurisdiction.... But on the undisputed facts, ... no federal cause of action can be made out.). Id. at 1008 (emphasis added) (ellipses and alteration in original). So, here, it may be that Plaintiffs eventually would lose on the merits. But their federal claims are not frivolous. As I will explain in the next section, this dispute arises under the relevant collective bargaining agreements and benefit plans, which explicitly provide that early retirees' and spouses' health care benefits are to continue after the agreements' expiration. That being so, we have federal question jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1331, over this action, which is brought pursuant to the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185(a), and ERISA, id. § 1132(a)(1)(B).