Bituminous Casualty Corporation v. Trinity Universal Insurance of Kansas

Filing 140

ORDER granting 136 Motion to Exercise Supplemental Jurisdiction. By Judge Robert E. Blackburn on 11/15/2013.(klyon, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Judge Robert E. Blackburn
Civil Action No. 12-cv-01802-REB-KLM
BITUMINOUS CASUALTY CORPORATION, an Illinois corporation,
Plaintiff,
v.
TRINITY UNIVERSAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF KANSAS, a Kansas corporation,
Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff,
v.
AUTO-OWNERS INSURANCE COMPANY, a Michigan corporation, and
OWNERS INSURANCE COMPANY, an Ohio corporation,
Third-Party Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO
EXERCISE SUPPLEMENTAL JURISDICTION
Blackburn, J.
This matter is before me on the Unopposed Motion Requesting the Exercise
of Supplemental Jurisdiction Over Trinity’s Third-Party Claims [#136]1 filed
November 12, 2013. The motion is unopposed and is granted.
When this case first was filed, the plaintiff sought to recover from the defendant
more than 87,000 dollars. Because there was complete diversity among the parties and
more than 75,000 dollars was in controversy, this court had diversity jurisdiction over

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“[#136]” is an example of the convention I use to identify the docket number assigned to a
specific paper by the court’s case management and electronic case filing system (CM/ECF). I use this
convention throughout this order.

this case when it was filed. 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Ultimately, the plaintiff and the
defendant agreed to a settlement requiring the defendant to pay 50,000 dollars to the
plaintiff.
The defendant, Trinity Universal Insurance Company of Kansas, as a third-party
plaintiff, asserted claims against the third-party defendants seeking contribution from the
third-party defendants for any liability Trinity may have to the plaintiff. Given the
settlement between the plaintiff and Trinity, the contribution claims of Trinity against the
third-party defendants now present a controversy involving less than the jurisdictional
amount specified in § 1332. Given this recent change in circumstances, the fact that
discovery and dispositive motions are complete, and the fact that trial is imminent,
Trinity now asks the court to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over its third-party
claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1367.
Section 1367(a) provides:
(a) 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 joinder or
intervention of additional parties.
Until the claims of the plaintiff have been dismissed by the court, pursuant to the
settlement between the plaintiff and the defendant, this court has supplemental
jurisdiction over the third-party claims of Trinity under § 1367(a). Once the claims of the
plaintiff are dismissed, the amount in controversy in this case necessarily falls below the
jurisdictional amount specified in § 1332.
Under § 1367(c), the court “may decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction

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over a claim under subsection (a) if - * * * the district court has dismissed all claims over
which it has original jurisdiction.” The continued exercise of supplemental jurisdiction in
these circumstances is a matter left to the court’s discretion. Given the circumstances
of this case, I exercise my discretion under § 1367(c) and will continue to exercise
supplemental jurisdiction over the third-party claims of Trinity after the claims of the
plaintiff have been dismissed pursuant to the settlement between the plaintiff and
Trinity.
THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the Unopposed Motion Requesting the
Exercise of Supplemental Jurisdiction Over Trinity’s Third-Party Claims [#136]
filed November 12, 2013, is GRANTED.
Dated November 15, 2013, at Denver, Colorado.
BY THE COURT:

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