Cnty. of San Mateo v. Chevron Corp.

294 F. Supp. 3d 934
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMarch 16, 2018
DocketCase No. 17–cv–04929–VC; Case No. 17–cv–04934–VC; Case No. 17–cv–04935–VC
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 294 F. Supp. 3d 934 (Cnty. of San Mateo v. Chevron Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cnty. of San Mateo v. Chevron Corp., 294 F. Supp. 3d 934 (N.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING MOTIONS TO REMAND

VINCE CHHABRIA, United States District Judge *937The plaintiffs' motions to remand are granted.

Because federal common law does not govern the plaintiffs' claims, it also does not preclude them from asserting the state law claims in these lawsuits. Simply put, these cases should not have been removed to federal court on the basis of federal common law that no longer exists.

2. Nor was removal warranted under the doctrine of complete preemption. State law claims are often preempted by federal law, but preemption alone seldom *938justifies removing a case from state court to federal court. Usually, state courts are left to decide whether state law claims are preempted by federal law under principles of "express preemption," "conflict preemption" or "field preemption." And state courts are entirely capable of adjudicating that sort of question. See, e.g. , Smith v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. , 135 Cal.App.4th 1463, 38 Cal.Rptr.3d 653, 665-73 (Cal. Ct. App. 2005), as modified on denial of reh'g (Jan. 26, 2006); Carpenters Health & Welfare Trust Fund for California v. McCracken , 83 Cal.App.4th 1365, 100 Cal.Rptr.2d 473, 474-77 (Cal. Ct. App. 2000). A defendant may only remove a case to federal court in the rare circumstance where a state law claim is "completely preempted" by a specific federal statute-for example, section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, section 502 of the Employment Retirement Income Security Act, or sections 85 and 86 of the National Bank Act. See Sullivan v. American Airlines, Inc. , 424 F.3d 267, 271-73 (2d Cir. 2005). The defendants do not point to any applicable statutory provision that involves complete preemption. To the contrary, the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act both contain savings clauses that preserve state causes of action and suggest that Congress did not intend the federal causes of action under those statutes "to be exclusive." 42 U.S.C. §§ 7604(e), 7416 ; 33 U.S.C. §§ 1365(e), 1370 ; Beneficial National Bank v. Anderson , 539 U.S. 1, 9 n.5, 123 S.Ct. 2058, 156 L.Ed.2d 1 (2003) ; Bell v. Cheswick Generating Station , 734 F.3d 188, 194-97 (3d Cir. 2013). There may be important questions of ordinary preemption, but those are for the state courts to decide upon remand.

3. Nor was removal warranted on the basis of Grable jurisdiction. The defendants have not pointed to a specific issue of federal law that must necessarily be resolved to adjudicate the state law claims. Grable & Sons Metal Products, Inc. v. Darue Engineering & Manufacturing , 545 U.S. 308, 314, 125 S.Ct. 2363, 162 L.Ed.2d 257 (2005) ; see also Empire Healthchoice Assurance, Inc. v. McVeigh , 547 U.S. 677, 700, 126 S.Ct. 2121, 165 L.Ed.2d 131 (2006). Instead, the defendants mostly gesture to federal law and federal concerns in a generalized way. The mere potential for foreign policy implications (resulting from the plaintiffs succeeding on their claims at an unknown future date) does not raise the kind of actually disputed, substantial federal issue necessary for Grable jurisdiction. Nor does the mere existence of a federal regulatory regime mean that these cases fall under Grable . See Empire Healthchoice , 547 U.S. at 701, 126 S.Ct. 2121 ("[I]t takes more than a federal element 'to open the "arising under" door.' " (quoting Grable , 545 U.S. at 313, 125 S.Ct. 2363 ) ). Moreover, even if deciding the nuisance claims were to involve a weighing of costs and benefits, and even if the weighing were to implicate the defendants' dual obligations under federal and state law, that would not be enough to invoke Grable jurisdiction. On the defendants' theory, many (if not all) state tort claims that involve the balancing of interests and are brought against federally regulated entities would be removable. Grable does not sweep so broadly. See Empire Healthchoice , 547 U.S. at 701, 126 S.Ct. 2121 (describing Grable as identifying no more than a "slim category" of removable cases); Grable , 545 U.S.

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294 F. Supp. 3d 934, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cnty-of-san-mateo-v-chevron-corp-cand-2018.