Opinion ID: 748844
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the larsens' alleged state law causes of action

Text: 38 After the district court granted summary judgment for the City on the § 1983 claim, the Larsens moved for clarification, alleging that the court's Order had not disposed of state law claims for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, third-party beneficiary relief, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The court held a hearing on the question in which it opined that the Larsens had not in fact alleged any state law causes of action with the specificity required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8, because they had buried scattered references to the alleged causes of action within the body of their second amended complaint. In its Order stemming from the hearing, however, the court assumed that the Larsens had indeed pled the state law causes of action. It then exercised its discretion to dismiss those claims without prejudice because the underlying federal cause of action had been dismissed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c); Timm v. Mead Corp., 32 F.3d 273, 276-77 (7th Cir.1994). 39 The decision to dismiss supplemental state law claims is discretionary; this Court will reverse only if the decision was based upon an erroneous view of the law or upon clearly erroneous factual findings. Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., 496 U.S. 384, 400, 402, 110 S.Ct. 2447, 2458, 110 L.Ed.2d 359. The Larsens cite authority showing that a district court may exercise supplemental jurisdiction over state law claims after dismissing the claims upon which federal jurisdiction was premised if the state law claims are ripe for decision, the applicable state law is straightforward, and discovery has been completed. See Timm, 32 F.3d at 277. This principle, which is certainly valid so far as it goes, does not mean that the district court must exercise supplemental jurisdiction where all three conditions are satisfied. The decision is still discretionary. Moreover, the court in this case quite properly doubted whether the alleged state law claims had even been pled with sufficient clarity and specificity. If they had not, then it would be ridiculous to suggest that the claims were ripe for decision, because the City would have had no opportunity to respond to them. In the face of such doubt, it was by no means an abuse of discretion for the district court to dismiss the alleged claims without prejudice. 40