Carpenter v. Wichita Falls Independent School Dist.

• Decision Date: 15 February 1995
• Docket Number: No. 93-1771,93-1771
• Citation: 44 F.3d 362
• Parties: 97 Ed. Law Rep. 44 Rose M. CARPENTER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. WICHITA FALLS INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 362

44 F.3d 362

97 Ed. Law Rep. 44

Rose M. CARPENTER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. WICHITA FALLS INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 93-1771.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Feb. 15, 1995.

John M. Rogers, Frank Gilstrap, Hill, Gilstrap, Moorhead, White, Bodoin & Webster, Arlington, TX, for appellant.

Roger D. Hepworth, Hensell, Ryan & Groce, Austin, TX, for appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Before GARWOOD, JOLLY and STEWART, Circuit Judges.

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff-appellant Rose M. Carpenter (Carpenter) sued the Wichita Falls Independent School District (the School District) simultaneously in state and federal courts, complaining in the federal forum of a First Amendment violation, in the state forum of a breach of contract and a violation of her right to free speech under the Texas constitution. Asserting the existence of federal jurisdiction over the state-law claim, the School District timely removed the state case to federal court. The case is now before us on interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(b) from the district court's denial of Carpenter's motion to remand the state case. We reverse and remand.

Facts and Proceedings Below

Carpenter, a twenty-year employee of the School District, worked as an administrator from 1984 to 1990. In that capacity, she coordinated the budget and course content for the district's science curriculum. In early 1990, the School District proposed an administrative restructuring plan, to which Carpenter vocally objected. Subsequently, the School District reassigned Carpenter, demoting her from district-wide administrator to vice principal of a high school for "at-risk" students. Carpenter alleged that she was reassigned because of her objections to the restructuring plan and that the consequences of this reassignment were a reduction in responsibility, a promised reduction in pay, ¹ and a violent physical assault by a student.

After challenging her reassignment through internal grievance procedures, Carpenter, on May 22, 1992, filed two separate suits against the School District, one in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Wichita Falls Division, and one in the 89th Judicial District Court of Wichita County, Texas. Both suits alleged that the transfer violated her free-speech rights. Carpenter based her state suit claims entirely and exclusively on state law, that is, on Texas contract and constitutional law. The only claim asserted in her federal suit, on the other hand, was under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983).

Asserting federal-question jurisdiction over the state suit free-speech claim, the School District removed the state case to federal court on the basis of 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1441(b). The state suit was then consolidated with the pending federal suit. The district court denied Carpenter's motion to remand the state suit, but certified the question for interlocutory appeal. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(b). We granted leave to appeal and, finding no federal jurisdiction over Carpenter's state suit, now reverse.

Discussion

We begin with general principles. The denial of a motion to remand an action removed from state to federal court is a question of federal subject-matter jurisdiction and statutory construction subject to de novo review. Garrett v. Commonwealth Mortgage Corp. of Am., 938 F.2d 591, 593 (5th Cir.1991). To support removal, the defendant bears the burden of establishing federal jurisdiction over the state-court suit. See Wilson v. Republic Iron & Steel Co., 257 U.S. 92, 42 S.Ct. 35, 66 L.Ed. 144 (1921). Moreover, because the effect of removal is to deprive the state court of an action properly before it, removal raises significant federalism concerns, see Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Thompson, 478 U.S. 804, 809, 106 S.Ct. 3229, 3233, 92 L.Ed.2d 650 (1986), which mandate strict construction of the removal statute. Shamrock Oil & Gas Corp. v. Sheets, 313 U.S. 100, 107, 61 S.Ct. 868, 872, 85 L.Ed. 1214 (1941); Willy v. Coastal Corp., 855 F.2d 1160, 1164 (5th Cir.1988).

The defendant's right to remove is statutory. Section 1441 of the Judicial Code keys the propriety of removal to the original jurisdiction of the federal district courts. Removal under section 1441(b), the basis of removal here, is appropriate only for those claims within the federal question jurisdiction of the district courts, that is, for those actions "arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States." 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1331.

A determination that a cause of action presents a federal question depends upon the allegations of the plaintiff's well-pleaded complaint. Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Mottley, 211 U.S. 149, 29 S.Ct. 42, 53 L.Ed. 126 (1908). Generally, under section 1331, a suit arises under federal law if there appears on the face of the complaint some substantial, disputed question of federal law. See Franchise Tax Board v. Construction Laborers Vacation Trust, 463 U.S. 1, 12, 103 S.Ct. 2841, 2848, 77 L.Ed.2d 420 (1983). Accordingly, to support removal, the defendant must locate the basis of federal jurisdiction in those allegations necessary to support the plaintiff's claim, ignoring his own pleadings and petition for removal. A defendant may not remove on the basis of an anticipated or even inevitable federal defense, but instead must show that a federal right is "an element, and an essential one, of the plaintiff's cause of action." Gully v. First Nat'l Bank, 299 U.S. 109, 111, 57 S.Ct. 96, 97, 81 L.Ed. 70 (1936).

The plaintiff is thus the master of her complaint. Healy v. Sea Gull Specialty Co., 237 U.S. 479, 480, 35 S.Ct. 658, 659, 59 L.Ed. 1056 (1915) ("the plaintiff is absolute master of what jurisdiction he will appeal to"); The Fair v. Kohler Die & Specialty Co., 228 U.S. 22, 23, 33 S.Ct. 410, 411, 57 L.Ed. 716 (1913) ("the party who brings a suit is master to decide what law he will rely upon"); Willy v. Coastal Corp., 855 F.2d 1160, 1167 (5th Cir.1988). A plaintiff with a choice between federal- and state-law claims may elect to proceed in state court on the exclusive basis of state law, thus defeating the defendant's opportunity to remove, but taking the risk that his federal claims will one day be precluded. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Thompson, 478 U.S. 804, 809, 106 S.Ct. 3229, 3233 n. 6, 92 L.Ed.2d 650 (1986) ("Jurisdiction may not be sustained on a theory that the plaintiff has not advanced."); Travelers Indemnity Company v. Sarkisian, 794 F.2d 754, 758 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 885, 107 S.Ct. 277, 93 L.Ed.2d 253 (1986); 1A James W. Moore & Brett A. Ringle, Moore's Federal Practice p 0.160 (2d ed. 1979) (noting the freedom of the plaintiff to "ignore the federal ground and rely on the state ground").

However, in certain situations where the plaintiff necessarily has available no legitimate or viable state cause of action, but only a federal claim, he may not avoid removal by artfully casting his federal suit as one arising exclusively under state law. Although a defense, preemption may so forcibly and completely displace state law that the plaintiff's cause of action is either wholly federal or nothing at all. Avco Corp. v. Aero Lodge No. 735, Int'l Assn. of Machinists, 390 U.S. 557, 559, 88 S.Ct. 1235, 1237, 20 L.Ed.2d 126 (1968). As one leading treatise has explained,

"[I]n many contexts plaintiff's claim may be one that is exclusively governed by federal law, so that the plaintiff necessarily is stating a federal cause of action, whether he chooses to articulate it that way or not. If the only remedy available to plaintiff is federal, because of preemption or otherwise, and the state court necessarily must look to federal law in passing on the claim, the case is removable regardless of what is in the pleading. If, however, there is a choice between federal and state remedies, the federal courts will not ignore the plaintiff's choice of state law as the basis for the action." 14A Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure Sec. 3722 (2d ed. 1985).

This doctrine represents a narrow exception ² to the rule requiring the basis of federal question jurisdiction to be found on the face of the plaintiff's well-pleaded complaint and not in any anticipated defense.

The artful pleading doctrine recognizes that the characterization of a federal claim as a state claim will not in all cases prohibit removal when the plaintiff has no state claim at all. The doctrine does not convert legitimate state claims into federal ones, but rather reveals the suit's necessary federal character. See Franchise Tax Board, 463 U.S. at 23, 103 S.Ct. at 2854 (announcing that this exception to the well-pleaded complaint rule "stands for the proposition that if a federal cause of action completely preempts a state cause of action any complaint that comes within the scope of the federal cause of action necessarily 'arises under' federal law"). Absent such extraordinary circumstances, ³ the well-pleaded complaint rule governs, id. at 8, 103 S.Ct. at 2846, as does its corollary. See Powers, 719 F.2d at 766. That is, if a plaintiff indeed has a viable state law claim, he may depend on it alone and thereby defeat attempts at removal. Caterpillar, Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386, 391 & n. 7, 107 S.Ct. 2425, 2429 & n. 7, 96 L.Ed.2d 318 (1987) (noting that, because the plaintiff is the "master of the claim," "he or she may avoid federal jurisdiction by exclusive reliance on state law") (footnote omitted).

With these principles in mind, we turn to the face of Carpenter's state pleadings. The state court complaint ("petition") alleges violations of state law only, in particular "a violation of Plaintiff's right to free speech under the Texas Constitution, Article I, Sec. 8." Although never asserting federal...