| Venue: | SCOTUS |
| Facts: | The IRS siezes some of Grable's property. It's put up for sale, and Darue buys it. Grable was notified of the sail, and could have redeemed the property, but did not. |
| Posture: | Suit for quiet title in state court. Darue removes to federal district court. Grable requests remand back to state court, and the district court denies it. Summary judgment for Darue. Affirmed by the 6th Cir. Ct. App. Appeal. |
| Issue: | Does the fact that there was no federal cause of action preclude removal to federal court of a suit for title to land with non-diverse parties raising a disputed issue of federal title law? |
| Holding: | No. Affirmed. |
| Rule: | The national interest in having a federal forum for federal tax litigation
is sufficient to support federal question jurisdiction. The test:
does a the state-law claim
|
| Reasoning: | Whether Grable was given notice within the meaning of the statute is
an essential element of the claim, and that's a federal question.
The government has an obvious interest in the prompt collection
of taxes, and also in having a federal forum in which to vindicate
its own administrative actions. And these cases are so rare that
it's not going to disturb any federal-state balance.
Oh, and people who thought Merrell Dow prohibited this didn't read the whole thing-- it didn't state a bright-line rule, and it didn't adopt Frankfurter's dissent from Lincoln Mills. |
| Dicta: | An opinion is to be read as a whole. Also Thomas (concurring): I'd be willing to consider ditching all this confusing precedent and just going with the American Well Works rule. |