550
Stevens, J., dissenting
State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to the Contrary notwithstanding."
The "supplemental jurisdiction" provisions of the Judicial Improvements Act of 1990, 28 U. S. C. § 1367 (1994 ed.), impose a lesser burden on the States than each of these examples, and do so only in a relatively narrow category of cases— those in which both federal- and state-law claims are so related "that they form part of the same case or controversy." Adopting a recommendation of the Federal Courts Committee, Congress in § 1367(a) overruled our misguided decision in Finley v. United States, 490 U. S. 545 (1989), and expressly authorized federal courts to entertain such cases even when the state-law claim is against a party over whom there is no independent basis for federal jurisdiction.2
Subsection (d) of § 1367 responds to the risk that the plaintiff's state-law claim, even though timely when filed as a part of the federal lawsuit, may be dismissed after the state period of limitations has expired. To avoid the necessity of duplicate filings, it provides that the state statute shall be tolled while the claim is pending in federal court and for 30 days thereafter.3 The impact of this provision on the defendant is minimal, because the timely filing in federal court provides it with the same notice as if a duplicate complaint had also been filed in state court.
2 Title 28 U. S. C. § 1367(a) provides: "Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c) or as expressly provided otherwise by Federal statute, in any civil action of which the district courts have original jurisdiction, the district courts shall have supplemental jurisdiction over all other claims that are so related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form part of the same case or controversy under Article III of the United States Constitution. Such supplemental jurisdiction shall include claims that involve the join-der or intervention of additional parties."
3 Section 1367(d) provides: "The period of limitations for any claim asserted under subsection (a) . . . shall be tolled while the claim is pending and for a period of 30 days after it is dismissed unless State law provides for a longer tolling period."
Page: Index Previous 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007