Court Opinion

ID: 9479665
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:24:59.04291+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:11.511882
License: Public Domain

SELYA, Circuit Judge.
I respectfully dissent from the court’s denial of the Commonwealth’s petition for rehearing. Part III of the panel’s opinion approaches the question of pendent-party jurisdiction in terms of a new, unprecedented analytic modality — a modality which I find at material variance with the teachings of the Court. See, e.g., Aldinger v. Howard, 427 U.S. 1, 14-19, 96 S.Ct. 2413, 2420-23, 49 L.Ed.2d 276 (1976). Joinder of claims, not joinder of parties, is the object of pendent jurisdiction. The doctrine was not designed to allow a party without a federally cognizable claim to obtain access to a federal forum by the simple expedient of joining forces with a different plaintiff asserting an independent claim, even one stemming from the same operative facts. That the two plaintiffs are spouses makes no difference, see, e.g., Arnold v. Troccoli, 344 F.2d 842, 843 n.l (2d Cir.1965); nor does the fact that 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is in play, see, e.g., cases listed in Panel Op. at 16 n. 23.
In a nutshell, the claims of Jose Rodriguez and Irma Rodriguez are severable for purposes of determining federal jurisdiction and must be treated as such. The panel’s approach blurs this distinction, stretching both doctrine and application beyond permissible limits. For that reason, and consistent with the near-unanimous weight of authority, I would grant the instant petition in order to reconsider Part III of the panel’s opinion.