Can you sue in small claims on a federal statute?

On Nov 9, 6:58 am, "johnmoli...@yahoo.com" <johnmoli...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Recently in my state's small claims court, a man won a judgment
> against a telemarketing company. Based on the federal statutes
<snip>
> and the judge ruled in his favor and ordered the company to pay $x to
> the plaintiff based on the maximum fine per violation of the federal
> statute.
>
> Is such a lawsuit possible? Can you sue in state court based on a
> federal statute?

Yes.   Some federal statutes -- this may be one of them, but I didn't look it up -- even provide specifically that any remedy they grant to claimants can be pursued _only_ in state court.

Don't confuse the issues of "subject matter jursidiction" and "applicable law".   State courts, if they have _personal_ jurisdiction over the person of the defendant and subject matter jurisdiction over the type of claim (e.g. a suit at law for damages, or a suit in equity for some other kind of relief) can hear claims regardless of the source of the law on which they are based (although each state may provide that some courts hear certain types of cases, and other courts hear others - but somewhere, a state forum is available for every type of claim).   Federal courts are courts of "limited" subject matter jurisdiction, meaning that they can only hear cases for which a specific grant of authorization to hear that type of claim was made by Congress pursuant to the Constitution.  The complaint in a Federal case has to recite the jurisdictional basis of the claim, that is, cite the statute that provides a grant of subject matter jurisdiction.   If a statute specifically provides that it does not confer Federal jurisdiction, then obviously it cannot be relied upon to bing a Federal case.   The only way such a claim could be brought into Federal court is under the so called "diversity" statute allowing the Federal courts to adjudicate disputes arising between citizens of different states, IF the amount in controversy exceeds a certain amount (currently $70,000).   Obviously, this wouldn't work for a small-claims type case.

Where an independent statutory basis for Federal jurisdiction exists, the amount in controversy doesn't matter legally, although it certainly does practically.   I once was forced* to sue in Federal court (under the Federal Tort Claims Act) on a property-damage-only car crash case worth only $600, because the Air Force van driver who clipped my client's car in front of the PX at Andrews AFB refused to settle the claim.   Needless to say I would have much preferred to bring that suit in state small claims court, but the FTCA requires that suit be brought _only_ in Federal court.   The Federal District Judge who heard the case was not happy to be spending his valuable time on a $600 case and made short shrift of it, but we didn't have a choice.

* You may ask, why was I "forced" to accept this client with so many factors working against us?  If I were on my own, as I am now, I wouldn't, since it's not worth _my_ time either.   But I was a brand new lawyer, working for a large firm, and I was assigned the case by my supervising partner, representing one of their major insurance company clients on a "subrogation" case (the insurer had already paid the damages to their insured, and was trying to collect from the responsible party).  The firm had a standing arrangement with the insurer to handle all their subrogation work in MD, and the partner was not about to turn down any case the insurance adjuster asked him to handle, for fear they would take their subrogation business (and their far more lucrative insurance defense business) somewhere else.  It was my first case, getting me into Federal court less than a month after I was admitted to the bar.   The case made no economic sense to the firm either, except as (a) good PR to keep a good client happy (the old "no case is too big or too small" slogan) and as (b) a training ground for a new lawyer where it didn't matter much to anyone if I screwed it up. 

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Mike Jacobs
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