Original Juristiction -- always District court...
David Lesher
If Uncle Sam takes Joe to court on a civil matter; will that always
be federal court, or if small enough damages, could it be state?
Specifically, the Park Service holds deed restictions on land adjacent
to to NPS land. If the landowner breaks same, there may be a {say} $500
fine. So where does the legal case start?
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Mike Jacobs
> If Uncle Sam takes Joe to court on a civil matter; will that always
> be federal court, or if small enough damages, could it be state?
If the USA is the plaintiff, the US District courts have original
jurisdiction over a civil case (regardless of the dollar amount in
controversy). See 28 USC 1345.
> Specifically, the Park Service holds deed restictions on land adjacent
> to to NPS land. If the landowner breaks same, there may be a {say} $500
> fine. So where does the legal case start?
If the case amounts to what would be a State law small claim or trial
of a citation for a civil violation (analogous to a traffic offense),
it will probably be assigned to a US Magistrate Judge for initial
hearing, but yes, the US agency's suit against the landowner will
almost certainly be filed in US District Court.
One could also interpret your question as asking whether the State
courts could have concurrent jurisdiction over such a matter, and
would be willing to hear such a suit. Perhaps they would - although
the extent of each state's courts' jurisdiction would be a matter of
individual State law to determine, so you will get 51 different
answers. But there is less than a snowball's chance that the US
Attorney would actually bring suit in State court even if he were
legally permitted to do so. Since the choice of forum jurisdiction
(among all the permitted forums) is up to the plaintiff - in this case
USA - the US Attorney is virtually sure to choose the federal forum.
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Mike Jacobs
> I agree that the US attorney would probably choose federal court when
> he can, but I'm not so sure that he would bring a small claims case at
> all. �Judges can be pretty persnickety, and a litigator's political
> capital, once spent, is not easily replenished. �I can imagine a US
> attorney making a long-term strategic decision not to tick off a
> federal judge by bringing him a small claims case. �I think it more
> likely that he would tell the agency to file on its own in state small
> claims court (where lawyers are generally unnecessary even for
> artificial entities).
I think we're talking apples and oranges. I was suggesting that a
certain type of small _civil_violation_ case (involving only a civil
fine, not a criminal conviction or jail time) would probably be tried
in Federal court before a magistrate judge, not a District judge.
Here in the DC metro area, we have several busy highways that are
Federal enclaves, run by the National Park Service, such as the
Baltimore-Washington Parkway in MD, the George Washington Parkway in
VA, as well as many Federal buildings and campuses scattered
throughout the region - the National Instututes of Health, the
Department of Agriculture, and so on, all of which have roads going
through them, and who all have their own, Federal police forces.
Being ticketed for a traffic violation by the US Park Police while
driving in one of those enclaves summons the defendant to appear in
Federal court before a magistrate, not in State court - even though,
by statute, it is applicable State law that applies and for which the
violation is cited.
This practice also extends to non-driving violations that are minor
civil offenses rather than criminal, as well, such as being publicly
drunk or too loud at your campsite in a National Park, or the like.
IIRC the OP said he was concerned about a possible ticket from the NPS
for violation of a deed restriction by a landowner adjacent to a Park,
which could result in a $500 civil fine. I'm not saying it's
_impossible_ that the NPS would ask him to appear in State court to
contest that ticket, but IMO it's highly unlikely. They will
probably send him to the nearest Federal magistrate judge instead.