Trustees of the Local 806 Structural Steel and Bridge Painters of Greater New…

Background

The plaintiffs initially asserted federal claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Taft-Hartley Act, along with supplemental state-law claims. The plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed all claims against Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, and later dismissed all claims against Casabella Contracting of N.Y. and Laura Pignataro. The court approved and entered those dismissals.

The only claims left were crossclaims that Casabella Contracting and Frank Pignataro had asserted against Laura Pignataro in their answer. Those crossclaims alleged breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, unjust enrichment, and indemnification.

Jurisdiction

The court reviewed the remaining claims and determined that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction, meaning the authority to hear the dispute. The answer stated that Casabella Contracting and Laura Pignataro were both residents of New York for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. Because complete diversity requires that no plaintiff and defendant be citizens of the same state, diversity jurisdiction was unavailable. The court also noted that all remaining crossclaims arose under state law.

The court stated that subject-matter jurisdiction cannot be waived and that a court must dismiss an action whenever it determines that jurisdiction is lacking.

Ruling

Judge Nelson S. Roman dismissed the action for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without prejudice. The court directed the clerk to enter judgment and close the case.