Taflinger v. United States Swimming, Inc.

435 F. App'x 559
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 12, 2011
DocketNos. 11-1296, 11-1412
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 435 F. App'x 559 (Taflinger v. United States Swimming, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taflinger v. United States Swimming, Inc., 435 F. App'x 559 (7th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

ORDER

The district court resolved all of the federal claims in this lawsuit and remanded the remaining state-law claims to the Indiana court in which plaintiff Brooke Taflinger originally filed it. Defendants United States Swimming, Inc., and West-field Washington School Corporation appeal, arguing that the district court abused its discretion by not maintaining supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law claims. We vacate the district court’s judgment and remand.

The following facts are undisputed. Taflinger was an elite swimmer who competed at the University of Florida and Indiana University and qualified for the Olympic trials in 2000 and 2004. As a result of a criminal investigation, she learned in 2008 that Brian Hindson, her former swimming coach, had secretly videotaped her on at least one occasion during the summer of 2000 as she changed clothes in a locker room at Westfield High School, part of the Westfield Washington school district. The video of Taflinger was found on Hindson’s laptop, but there is no evidence that he ever broadcast or disseminated it. Hindson eventually pleaded guilty to 16 counts relating to the production, distribution, and possession of child pornography — none relating to the footage of Taflinger, who was 18 when she was videotaped. Hindson is now serving 400 months in federal prison.

Hindson was never employed by the Westfield Washington school district. He rented the pool at Westfield High School during, the summer of 2000 so that members of the swimming club he founded, Central Indiana Aquatics, could train and compete in meets there. Hindson and his club were not affiliated with or regulated by Westfield Washington, nor did the school district supervise Hindson’s use of the pool. Taflinger swam with Hindson’s club team that summer, but she was not a student at Westfield High School; in fact, she had graduated earlier that year from Kokomo High School, in another school district.

United States Swimming, a Colorado corporation, is the national governing body for swimming. It administers competitive swimming events for its members. Taflinger was a member of United States Swimming but never executed any type of contract with the organization. Hindson was never an employee or agent of United States Swimming, and the organization did not supervise his coaching or his management of his swimming clubs.

In June 2009, Taflinger filed this suit in Hamilton County Superior Court against Hindson, United States Swimming, West-field Washington, Central Indiana Aquatics, Indiana Swimming (the state chapter of United States Swimming), and two other school districts. She asserted generally that she suffered mental trauma, humiliation, and damage to her reputation as a [561]*561result of the videotaping, and that the other defendants had not done enough to control Hindson. Her complaint comprised 16 claims: three under 42 U.S.C. § 1988, two under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a), and eleven arising under Indiana law. Westfield Washington was included as a defendant in the federal claims; United States Swimming was not. As for the state claims, Taflinger sought to hold both defendants liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy by public disclosure of private facts, invasion of privacy by physical intrusion, and negligent supervision. To that list she added against United States Swimming claims for breach of a duty of care based on a special relationship, and for breach of a contractual duty to provide a safe environment. She also brought claims against Westfield Washington for negligence and breach of a duty of care.

Within days, the defendants removed the case to federal court. See 28 U.S.C. § 1441. Default judgments were entered against Hindson and Central Indiana Aquatics, and Taflinger dismissed her complaint as to Indiana Swimming and the other two school districts, leaving as defendants only United States Swimming and Westfield Washington. In December 2009 the district court dismissed Taflinger’s claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress against United States Swimming. Taflinger afterward voluntarily dismissed the latter of these claims as against Westfield Washington.

In June 2010, after a year of discovery, United States Swimming and Westfield Washington moved for summary judgment on all remaining claims. In January 2011 the district court granted summary judgment for Westfield Washington on the federal claims but did not reach the merits of the unresolved state claims. In addressing the federal claims against Westfield Washington (for alleged violations of the Fourth Amendment and Title IX), the district court reasoned that there is no evidence that Hindson was an employee or agent of Westfield Washington, or that the school district knew or should have known about his clandestine filming of his club’s swimmers.

With no more federal claims left, the district court then remanded the remaining state claims to the Hamilton County court. After citing Carnegie-Mellon University v. Cohill, 484 U.S. 343, 108 S.Ct. 614, 98 L.Ed.2d 720 (1988), which directs district courts to consider “judicial economy, convenience, fairness, and comity” when deciding whether to continue exercising jurisdiction over unresolved state-law claims after no more federal claims remain, the district court said that the factors identified in that opinion weighed in favor of remand. The court did not elaborate.

United States Swimming and Westfield Washington filed appeals from the order remanding the state claims, and we have consolidated the two cases. Taflinger did not appeal the grant of summary judgment on her federal claims. The appellants contend that the district court abused its discretion when it remanded the state claims rather than continuing to exercise supplemental jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c); Whitely v. Moravec, 635 F.3d 308, 311 (7th Cir.2011).

As the district court recognized, we have said that a district court ordinarily should relinquish jurisdiction over supplemental state-law claims if all federal claims are dismissed before trial. See Sharp Elecs. Corp. v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 578 F.3d 505, 514 (7th Cir.2009). But the district court is not required to give up jurisdiction; that [562]*562decision is within the court’s discretion. Nightingale Home Healthcare, Inc. v. Anodyne Therapy, LLC, 589 F.3d 881, 883 (7th Cir.2009). Before deciding, the district court must make “a considered determination” as to whether it should hear the state claims. See Miller v. Herman, 600 F.3d 726, 738 (7th Cir.2010).

As far as we can tell, that did not happen in this case.

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Related

Taflinger v. Hindson
870 F. Supp. 2d 598 (S.D. Indiana, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
435 F. App'x 559, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taflinger-v-united-states-swimming-inc-ca7-2011.