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Merely citing 42 U.S.C. § 1983 without a constitutional violation, too, does not confer federal jurisdiction

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

A state law claim tied to § 1983 without a constitutional allegation does not confer federal jurisdiction over the state law claim. Hensley v. City of San Buenaventura, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22171 (S.D. Cal. March 17, 2008): In this case, Plaintiffs do not present a federal question. Plaintiffs never state a federal law which is necessary to the decision of their state claim, and their claim is entirely premised on state law. Jurisdictionally, Plaintiffs only mention 28 U.S.C. § 1331, which simply allows for federal question jurisdiction and nothing more. Although Plaintiffs cite 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Plaintiffs fail to state how Freeman violated their civil rights, and simply stating the code section is not enough to state a claim...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 23, 2008 (boomark / email).