Texas Injury Lawyer Blog
In order to proceed, a lawsuit must be filed not only against the correct defendant(s) but also in the right place and at the right time. The timeliness issue is usually governed by the statute of limitations, the outer time limit for filing suit in a certain type of case (for example, a motor vehicle accident case). There can be other issues involving timeliness as well, such as the statute of repose in product liability cases and the notice requirement in suits against certain governmental entities.
The “where to file” issue is governed by rules pertaining to jurisdiction. For instance, the federal courts generally have jurisdiction only in cases involving either a federal question or diversity of citizenship and an amount of $75,000 or more in controversy. Sometimes, a party to a state court suit may seek to remove a case to federal court, if the federal court has concurrent jurisdiction.
The Facts of the Case
In the case of Colonial County Mutual Insurance Company v. United States, the plaintiff was an insurance company who filed a subrogation lawsuit against the United States Postal Service (USPS) in Bexar County, Texas, seeking to recover monies that it had paid out to its insured as a result of a postal employee’s alleged negligent disregard of a stop sign and an ensuing collision with the plaintiff’s insured.
The USPS filed a notice of removal pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) and the federal jurisdictional statute, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1442. The United States of America then filed motions to substitute itself for the USPS and to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction. As its grounds, the defendant argued that the FTCA provided the exclusive waiver of sovereign immunity in tort cases against it. Thus, the state court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, and, under the derivative jurisdiction doctrine, so did the federal court because its jurisdiction was derived from the state court’s jurisdiction.
The Decision of the Federal District Court
The court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss. The court first noted that, since the plaintiff’s allegations were to the effect that a federal government employee negligently harmed its insured during the course and scope of her employment, the suit had to proceed under the FTCA. Since only the federal courts have jurisdiction in FTCA cases, the state court – and, consequently, the federal district court, which derived its jurisdiction from the state court – lacked jurisdiction over the case. Consequently, the defendant was entitled to the dismissal of the action, even though the federal district court would have had jurisdiction if the plaintiff had originally filed its action there rather than in state court.
The defendant sought a dismissal with prejudice, but the court reiterated the rule that dismissals for lack of jurisdiction are not on the merits, and it therefore dismissed the case without prejudice. It is likely that the plaintiff will re-file its suit in the federal court, assuming that it is not time-barred. If the statute of limitations has passed, it is possible that the suit can proceed under the Texas savings statute, but that issue will have to wait for another day.
To Talk to a Texas Car Accident Attorney
This case was an insurance subrogation case, but the result would have been the same if the plaintiff had been the injured party himself. If you have questions about your car accident or your right to seek compensation from the person who caused your wreck, you need to speak to an experienced Texas car accident lawyer. Call the Law Offices of Earl Drott at 903-531-9300 and ask for a free consultation. We’ve been helping injured people in Tyler and east Texas for decades, and we’ll be glad to put our experience and knowledge to work in your case.
Related Blog Posts
Texas Court Allows Negligence Case Against City to Go Forward