Also known as: Novels · novel · Novellae Constitutiones · Justinian's Novels · Novels of Justinian
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A claim or issue that presents an unprecedented or unsettled question of state law. Federal district courts may decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over such a claim even when it forms part of the same case or controversy as a claim within the court's original jurisdiction.
LenaCode LLC sued SocialSphere Inc. in federal court on a federal copyright claim. SocialSphere filed a counterclaim under a brand-new state consumer data privacy statute that no state court had yet interpreted. LenaCode moved the court to decline supplemental jurisdiction over the counterclaim. The court granted the motion because the counterclaim presented a novel issue of state law.
A bakery owner challenged a state maximum-hours law in federal court after the statute had only recently been enacted. The owner argued the law violated economic liberty principles never before addressed by state courts. The federal court declined supplemental jurisdiction over related state claims because the constitutional challenge raised novel state-law questions.
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A commission applicant sued in federal court seeking a writ after a state court had just begun interpreting a new appointments statute. The federal court declined supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law aspects of the claim because the statute raised novel questions that state courts had not yet resolved.
Property owners challenged a city's eminent domain action in federal court under a recently enacted state compensation statute that no state court had construed. The federal court declined supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law claims because the statute presented novel issues of state takings law.
Students challenged a new state flag-salute statute in federal court on free speech grounds. The statute had never been interpreted by state courts. The federal court declined supplemental jurisdiction over related state claims because the statute raised novel and complex issues of state law.
A housing developer sued a village in federal court under a newly enacted state fair-housing statute that had not yet been interpreted by state courts. The federal court declined supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law claims because the statute presented novel issues of state law.
A federal court may decline supplemental jurisdiction when the claim raises a novel or complex issue of state law. The statute expressly authorizes this discretionary declination to allow state courts to address unsettled questions first.
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Yes. When a state statute is recently enacted and has received no interpretive decisions from state courts, the claim typically raises a novel issue of state law. Federal courts may therefore decline supplemental jurisdiction on that ground.
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The state-law claims are dismissed without prejudice. The parties may then litigate those claims in state court, where the state judiciary can develop authoritative interpretations of the new statute.
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…for a duty not depending on executive discretion but on acts of Congress and general principles of law. This view is not novel. In 1792 an act directing the Secretary at War to place on the pension list disabled officers reported by the circuit courts was deemed unconstitutional so far as it imposed duties on the…