Jinks v. Richland County

• Citation: 538 U.S. 456
• Decision Date: 22 April 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-258.,02-258.
• Parties: JINKS v. RICHLAND COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA, ET AL.
• Court: United States Supreme Court

538 U.S. 456

JINKS v. RICHLAND COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA, ET AL.

No. 02-258.

Supreme Court of United States.

Argued March 5, 2003.

Decided April 22, 2003.

Title 28 U. S. C. § 1367 determines whether a federal district court with jurisdiction over a civil action may exercise supplemental jurisdiction over other claims forming part of the same Article III "case or controversy." If the court declines to exercise such jurisdiction, the claims will be dismissed and must be refiled in state court. To prevent the limitations period on those claims from expiring while they are pending in federal court, § 1367(d) requires state courts to toll the period while a supplemental claim is pending in federal court and for 30 days after its dismissal unless state law provides for a longer tolling period. Petitioner filed a federal-court action claiming that Richland County (hereinafter respondent) and others violated 42 U. S. C. § 1983 in connection with her husband's death. She also asserted supplemental claims for wrongful death and survival under South Carolina law. The District Court granted defendants summary judgment on the § 1983 claim and declined to exercise jurisdiction over the state-law claims. Petitioner then filed the supplemental claims in state court and won a wrongful-death verdict against respondent. The State Supreme Court reversed, finding the state-law claims time barred. Although they would not have been barred under § 1367(d)'s tolling rule, the court held § 1367(d) unconstitutional as applied to claims brought in state court against a State's political subdivisions.

Held: Section 1367(d)'s application to claims brought against a State's political subdivisions is constitutional. Pp. 461-467.

(a) The Court rejects respondent's contention that § 1367(d) is facially invalid because it exceeds Congress's enumerated powers. Rather, it is necessary and proper for executing Congress's power "[t]o constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court," Art. I, § 8, cl. 9, and assuring that those tribunals may fairly and efficiently exercise "[t]he judicial Power of the United States," Art. III, § 1. As to "necessity": It suffices that § 1367(d) is conducive to the administration of justice in federal court and is plainly adapted to that end. See McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316, 421. And as to propriety: Contrary to respondent's claim, § 1367(d) does not violate state-sovereignty principles by regulating state-court procedures. Pp. 461-465.

(b) Also without merit is respondent's contention that § 1367(d) should not be interpreted to apply to claims brought against a State's political subdivisions. Congress lacks Article I authority to override a State's immunity from suit in its own courts, see Alden v. Maine, 527 U. S. 706, but it may subject a municipality to suit in state court if that is done pursuant to a valid exercise of its enumerated powers, see id., at 756. This is merely the consequence of those cases, which respondent does not ask the Court to overrule, holding that municipalities do not enjoy a constitutionally protected immunity from suit. And any suggestion that an "unmistakably clear" statement is required before an Act of Congress may expose a local government to liability cannot possibly be reconciled with Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658. Pp. 465-467.

349 S. C. 298, 563 S. E. 2d 104, reversed and remanded.

SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous court. SOUTER, J., filed a concurring opinion, post, p. 467.

CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

Robert S. Peck argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were James Mixon Griffin and Bradford P. Simpson.

Jeffrey A. Lamken argued the cause for the United States as intervenor. On the briefs were Solicitor General Olson, Assistant Attorney General McCallum, Deputy Solicitor General Clement, Malcolm L. Stewart, Mark B. Stern, and Alisa B. Klein.

Andrew F. Lindemann argued the cause for respondent Richland County. With him on the brief were William H. Davidson II and David L. Morrison.^*

JUSTICE SCALIA delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Supreme Court of South Carolina dismissed petitioner's lawsuit against Richland County (hereinafter respondent) as time barred. In doing so it held that 28 U. S. C. § 1367(d), which required the state statute of limitations to be tolled for the period during which petitioner's cause of action had previously been pending in federal court, is unconstitutional as applied to lawsuits brought against a State's political subdivisions. The issue before us is the validity of that constitutional determination.

I

A

When a federal district court has original jurisdiction over a civil cause of action, § 1367 determines whether it may exercise supplemental jurisdiction over other claims that do not independently come within its jurisdiction, but that form part of the same Article III "case or controversy." Section 1367(a) provides:

"Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c) or as expressly provided otherwise by Federal statute, in any civil action of which the district courts have original jurisdiction, the district courts shall have supplemental jurisdiction over all other claims that are so related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form part of the same case or controversy under Article III of the United States Constitution. Such supplemental jurisdiction shall include claims that involve the joinder or intervention of additional parties."

As the introductory clause suggests, not every claim within the same "case or controversy" as the claim within the federal courts' original jurisdiction will be decided by the federal court; §§ 1367(b) and (c) describe situations in which a federal court may or must decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction. Section 1367(c), for example, states:

"The district courts may decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over a claim under subsection (a) if —

"(1) the claim raises a novel or complex issue of State law,

"(2) the claim substantially predominates over the claim or claims over which the district court has original jurisdiction,

"(3) the district court has dismissed all claims over which it has original jurisdiction, or

"(4) in exceptional circumstances, there are other compelling reasons for declining jurisdiction."

Thus, some claims asserted under § 1367(a) will be dismissed because the district court declines to exercise jurisdiction over them and, if they are to be pursued, must be refiled in state court. To prevent the limitations period on such supplemental claims from expiring while the plaintiff was fruitlessly pursuing them in federal court, § 1367(d) provides a tolling rule that must be applied by state courts:

"The period of limitations for any claim asserted under subsection (a), and for any other claim in the same action that is voluntarily dismissed at the same time as or after the dismissal of the claim under subsection (a), shall be tolled while the claim is pending and for a period of 30 days after it is dismissed unless State law provides for a longer tolling period."

B

On October 14, 1994, Carl H. Jinks was arrested and jailed for failure to pay child support. Four days later, while confined at respondent's detention center, he died of complications associated with alcohol withdrawal. In 1996, within the applicable statute of limitations, petitioner Susan Jinks, Carl Jinks's widow, brought an action in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina against respondent, its detention center director, and its detention center physician. She asserted a cause of action under Rev. Stat. § 1979, 42 U. S. C. § 1983, and also supplemental claims for wrongful death and survival under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act. See S. C. Code Ann. § 15-78-10 et seq. (West Supp. 2002). On November 20, 1997, the District Court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on the § 1983 claim, and two weeks later issued an order declining to exercise jurisdiction over the remaining state-law claims, dismissing them without prejudice pursuant to 28 U. S. C. § 1367(c)(3).

On December 18, 1997, petitioner filed her wrongful-death and survival claims in state court. After the jury returned a verdict of $80,000 against respondent on the wrongful-death claim, respondent appealed to the South Carolina Supreme Court, which reversed on the ground that petitioner's state-law claims were time barred. Although they would not have been time barred under § 1367(d)'s tolling rule, the State Supreme Court held that § 1367(d) was unconstitutional as applied to claims brought in state court against a State's political subdivisions, because it "interferes with the State's sovereign authority to establish the extent to which its political subdivisions are subject to suit." 349 S. C. 298, 304, 563 S. E. 2d 104, 107 (2002).

We granted certiorari, 537 U. S. 972 (2002).

II

A

Respondent and its amici first contend that § 1367(d) is facially invalid because it exceeds the enumerated powers of Congress. We disagree. Although the Constitution does not expressly empower Congress to toll limitations periods for state-law claims brought in state court, it does give Congress the authority "[t]o make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution [Congress's Article I, § 8,] Powers and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States ...." Art. I, § 8, cl. 18. The enactment of § 1367(d) was not the first time Congress prescribed the alteration of a state-law limitations period;¹ nor is this the first case in which we have ruled on its authority to do so. In Stewart v. Kahn, 11 Wall 493 (1871), we upheld as constitutional a federal statute that tolled limitations periods for state-law civil and criminal cases for the time during which actions could not be prosecuted because of the Civil War. We...