Stutler v. Marathon Pipe Line Co.

998 F. Supp. 968, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4242, 1998 WL 154624
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedMarch 20, 1998
DocketNo. IP 97-1928 C B/S
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 998 F. Supp. 968 (Stutler v. Marathon Pipe Line Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stutler v. Marathon Pipe Line Co., 998 F. Supp. 968, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4242, 1998 WL 154624 (S.D. Ind. 1998).

Opinion

ENTRY GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO REMAND

BARKER, Chief Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion to Remand the above-entitled action to the Parke Circuit Court in Parke County, Indiana. For the following reasons, Plaintiffs’ Motion to Remand is GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs, Larry Stutler and Janice Stutler (hereafter collectively referred to as “Stut[969]*969ler”), filed this lawsuit on November 13, 1997, in the Parke Circuit Court, naming Marathon Pipe Line Co., Koester Environmental Services and Bolin Enterprises, Inc. as Defendants. Plaintiffs’ Exhibit A. Plaintiffs’ allegations include, among others, that Defendant Marathon Pipe Line Co. (“Marathon”) negligently maintained and operated one of its interstate pipe lines, causing it to leak oil and damage Plaintiffs’ real property. Complaint ¶ 27; Plaintiffs do not allege any federal claims on the face of their complaint, only state and common law tort claims.

On December 5, 1997, Marathon filed a Notice of Removal in this court, stating that federal question jurisdiction exists pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and that removal is appropriate pursuant to 29 U.S.C. §§ 1441(b) and 1446. Marathon contends that Plaintiffs’ negligence claim is completely preempted by the Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act (“HLPSA”), 49 U.S.C. § 60101 et seq, thus providing federal 'question jurisdiction over this action. Plaintiffs move to remand this action to the Parke Circuit Court, maintaining that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction. The HLPSA, Plaintiffs’ argue, does not completely preempt any of their claims.

II. DISCUSSION

Once a ease is removed, “a federal court may entertain the ease only if the court has subject matter jurisdiction over the removed case.” Kenro, Inc. v. Fax Daily, Inc., 904 F.Supp. 912, 913 (S.D.Ind.1995)(Barker, C.J.). “[T]he burden is on the party seeking to remove, and the case should be remanded if there is doubt as to the right of removal.” Id. citing Doe v. Allied-Signal, Inc. ., 985 F.2d 908, 911 (7th Cir.1993).

Marathon and Plaintiffs agree that whether this court has subject matter jurisdiction rests on whether there is federal question jurisdiction. “The presence or absence of federal question jurisdiction is governed by the “well-pleaded complaint rule,’ which provides that federal jurisdiction exists only when a federal question is presented on the face of the plaintiffs properly pleaded complaint.” McCarty v. Reynolds Metals Co., 883 F.Supp. 356, 359 (S.D.Ind.1995)(Barker, C.J.) citing Caterpillar, Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386, 392, 107 S.Ct. 2425, 2429, 96 L.Ed.2d 318 (1987).

The “complete preemption” doctrine is a well-known exception to the well-pleaded complaint rule, however. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Taylor, 481 U.S. 58, 63, 107 S.Ct. 1542, 1546, 95 L.Ed.2d 55 (1987); Blackburn v. Sundstrand Corp., 115 F.3d 493, 495 (7th Cir.1997). “Although a preemption defense cannot be the basis for original federal jurisdiction, ‘the Supreme Court has fashioned an exception to this rule where Congress has completely preempted a given area of state law.’” Jass v. Prudential Health Care Plan, Inc., 88 F.3d 1482, 1486 (7th Cir.1996) quoting Lister v. Stark, 890 F.2d 941, 943 (7th Cir.1989). This jurisdictional doctrine provides that “to the extent that Congress has displaced a plaintiffs state law claim, that intent informs the well-pleaded complaint rule, and a plaintiffs attempt to utilize the displaced state law is properly ‘recharacterized’ as a complaint arising under federal law,” Rice v. Panchal, 65 F.3d 637, 640 n. 2 (7th Cir.1995) citing Taylor, 481 U.S. at 64, 107 S.Ct. at 1546-47.

Marathon claims that the HLPSA completely preempts Plaintiffs’ claim that Marathon negligently maintained and operated one of its interstate pipelines. Stutler responds that the HLPSA does'not preempt remedies that a private litigant may otherwise have under another law or common law, including a negligence claim.

Support for complete preemption comes from Section 60104(c) of the Act, which provides that “[a] state authority may not adopt or continue in force safety standards for interstate pipeline facilities or interstate pipeline transportations.”1 49 U.S.C. § 60104(c).2 Plaintiffs, however, maintain [970]*970that a narrow reading should be given to this provision because the HLPSA also providés that the citizens civil action provision under the Act “does not restrict a right or relief that a person or a class of persons may have under another law or common law.” 49 U.S.C. § 60121(d). Accordingly, Plaintiffs argue, the Act does not completely preempt any of their claims against Marathon.

Upon close examination, Section 60121(d) does not save Plaintiffs’ claims from complete preemption. It provides only that the citizens civil action provision does not preempt other remedies.3 The provision is “virtually identical to subsections in the citizens-suit provisions of several [other] statutes---- [and] means only that the provision of such suit does not revoke other remedies. It ... cannot be read to mean that the Act as a whole does not supplant [other] remedies but only that the particular section authorizing citizen suits does not do so.” City of Milwaukee v. Illinois, 451 U.S. 304, 328-329 n. 21, 101 S.Ct. 1784, 1798 n. 21, 68 L.Ed.2d 114 (1981)(eonstruing Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1365(e), and citing other environmental statutes containing similar provisions).

Raised by neither litigant, however, is Section 60120(c), which provides that “[t]his chapter does not affect the tort liability of any person.”4 This provision is not limited to any one specific section of the HLPSA, but rather, applies to the entire Act. It clearly sets forth Congress’ intention not to preempt tort claims, such as Plaintiffs’ claims against Marathon. See Abramson v.

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Bluebook (online)
998 F. Supp. 968, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4242, 1998 WL 154624, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stutler-v-marathon-pipe-line-co-insd-1998.