Workagegnehu v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth.

373 F. Supp. 3d 110
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedMarch 11, 2019
DocketCivil Action No. 18-0526 (ABJ)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 373 F. Supp. 3d 110 (Workagegnehu v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Workagegnehu v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth., 373 F. Supp. 3d 110 (D.C. Cir. 2019).

Opinion

ORDERED that reasonable, necessary, and causally related medical benefits for the claimant's head, neck, low back, right leg, and right thumb shall continue as long as necessary pursuant to Va. Code § 65.2-603 ; it is further ...
ORDERED that any remaining claims contained in the Employer's Application for Hearing filed January 18, 2018 and Claimant's claim filed March 13, 2018 are dismissed with prejudice.

Id. at 2-3.

On May 10, 2018, six days after the Stipulated Order was entered, defendants WMATA and Wiedefeld filed a motion to dismiss this suit due to lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6).1 Defs.' Mot.; Mem. of Law in Supp. of Defs.' Mot. [Dkt. # 8-1] ("Defs.' Mem.") at 1. Plaintiff filed an opposition to the motion, Pl.'s Mem. of P. & A. in Opp. to Defs.' Mot. [Dkt. # 9], and he was subsequently granted leave by the Court to file an amended opposition. Min Order (Oct. 29, 2018); Pl.'s Am. Mem. of P. & A. in Opp. to Defs.' Mot. [Dkt. # 13] ("Pl.'s Opp.").2 The motion is fully briefed and ripe for decision.3

*115STANDARD OF REVIEW

In evaluating a motion to dismiss under either Rule 12(b)(1) or 12(b)(6), the Court must "treat the complaint's factual allegations as true and must grant plaintiff 'the benefit of all inferences that can be derived from the facts alleged.' " Sparrow v. United Air Lines, Inc. , 216 F.3d 1111, 1113 (D.C. Cir. 2000) (internal citation omitted), quoting Schuler v. United States , 617 F.2d 605, 608 (D.C. Cir. 1979) ; see also Am. Nat'l Ins. Co. v. FDIC , 642 F.3d 1137, 1139 (D.C. Cir. 2011), quoting Thomas v. Principi , 394 F.3d 970, 972 (D.C. Cir. 2005). Nevertheless, the Court need not accept inferences drawn by the plaintiff if those inferences are unsupported by facts alleged in the complaint, nor must the Court accept plaintiff's legal conclusions. Browning v. Clinton , 292 F.3d 235, 242 (D.C. Cir. 2002).

I. Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Under Rule 12(b)(1), the plaintiff bears the burden of establishing jurisdiction by a preponderance of the evidence. See Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife , 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and the law presumes that "a cause lies outside this limited jurisdiction." Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am. , 511 U.S. 375, 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994) ; see also Gen. Motors Corp. v. EPA , 363 F.3d 442, 448 (D.C. Cir. 2004) ("As a court of limited jurisdiction, we begin, and end, with an examination of our jurisdiction."). "[B]ecause subject-matter jurisdiction is 'an Art[icle] III as well as a statutory requirement ... no action of the parties can confer subject-matter jurisdiction upon a federal court.' " Akinseye v. District of Columbia , 339 F.3d 970, 971 (D.C. Cir. 2003), quoting Ins. Corp. of Ir., Ltd. v. Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee , 456 U.S. 694, 702, 102 S.Ct. 2099, 72 L.Ed.2d 492 (1982).

When considering a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, unlike when deciding a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the court "is not limited to the allegations of the complaint." Hohri v. United States , 782 F.2d 227, 241 (D.C. Cir. 1986), vacated on other grounds , 482 U.S. 64, 107 S.Ct. 2246, 96 L.Ed.2d 51 (1987). Rather, "a court may consider such materials outside the pleadings as it deems appropriate to resolve the question [of] whether it has jurisdiction to hear the case." Scolaro v. D.C. Bd. of Elections & Ethics , 104 F.Supp.2d 18

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373 F. Supp. 3d 110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/workagegnehu-v-wash-metro-area-transit-auth-cadc-2019.