Jurisdictional Rule

By: Derek Hawkins//August 1, 2017//

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Lawrence B. Lennon, et al. v. City of Carmel, Indiana, et al.

Case No.: 16-3836

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and BAUER and POSNER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Jurisdictional Rule

Although people raise an astonishing variety of claims in the federal courts of this country, the fact remains that there are limits on the subject-matter jurisdiction of those courts. This case implicates one of those limits: the federal district courts are not authorized to sit in review of state-court decisions, unless Congress has passed appropriate legislation. This is so even if one or all parties would like an answer from the federal court. As the district court here recognized, nearly all of the case now before us runs afoul of this jurisdictional rule. We affirm its dismissal of the action, with some minor modifications.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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