An inexplicable lawsuit

A class of of state med mal plaintiffs sued a bunch of doctors, hospitals, professional associations, health networks, the Attorney General, and several state judges; the plaintiffs want a DJ and injunction declaring that the Seventh Amendment is incorporated and that Texas' cap on non-economic damages violates the Seventh Amendment. Bloomberg reported on the order dismissing claims against the judges in light of WWH (because everything comes back to SB8). Otherwise, the case seems to be moving towards a hearing on the request for injunctive relief. But I am baffled by how this case is moving forward. Other than the AG arguing that plaintiffs lack standing because their federal claims depend on winning their cases and showing entitlement to non-economic damages that would be limited by the cap, the remaining defendants' briefing has focused on the merits of whether the Seventh Amendment should be incorporated and whether the damages cap is constitutionally invalid.

But this case should never go near the merits. That the parties and the court are steaming headlong towards that reveals how litigants and courts have disconnected constitutional litigation from, well, litigation.

First, we should be clear about context. This is not SB8--potential state-court defendants run to federal court with their potential federal defense to liability, seeking a remedy that would prevent state litigation. Here, the federal plaintiffs are the state plaintiffs and most of the federal defendants are state defendants; the plaintiffs have lopped off one piece of the state litigation that they initiated--their constitutional challenge to their anticipated defense--and turned that into a federal case, the resolution of which would control the state litigation. Let us count the ways that this is not permissible.

• No Cause of Action. Both § 1983 and Ex parte Young require a defendant who acts under-color. Private litigants do not act under color when they avail themselves of ordinary laws and rules within litigation--especially when they are defendants in that litigation, dragged into court by the plaintiffs. So the state-court defendants (doctors, hospitals, and providers) should not be subject to this suit.

• Eleventh Amendment/Lack of Standing. The AG did not argue, relying on WWH, that it does not enforce the damages cap, which arises in private tort litigation, not through any governmental enforcement. Maybe the AG has some "residual" enforcement power that has not been disclaimed. But it seems odd not to raise it.

• Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction. Standing aside, I do not see how this action arises under federal law. Mottley provides the analogue--plaintiffs have state-law claim, defendants have a statutory defense (federal in Mottle, state here, but the point is the same), plaintiffs argue that the statute on which the defense will rely is constitutionally invalid. Mottley held that the defense and response to the defense does not provide federal jurisdiction under the Well Pleaded Complaint Rule; instead, the state court adjudicates the defense and federal response and the Supreme Court can review that judgment. But imagine that after filing their breach-of-contract claim, the Mottleys sued the railroad in federal court for a DJ that the free-pass law (which they expected the railroad to raise in defense) was constitutionally invalid--that is this case. But allowing that claim would undermine the WPC, by allowing the federal response to a defense to provide the basis for a federal forum, rather than leaving the entire case in state court subject to SCOTUS review.

If the medical defendants do not act under color and § 1983/EPY cannot provide the cause of action, the cause of action must be the DJA. But then we have a version of a Skelly Oil problem--a party impermissibly basing federal jurisdiction off an issue that would not arise on the face of the WPC in the enforcement claim in state court. And, again, this case is a step removed from Skelly because this is not the state defendant trying to beat the state plaintiff into court, but the state plaintiff trying to forum-shop by breaking up the case.

Now there is an argument, with which I would agree, that the WPC is wrong--cases such as the underlying med mal actions, in which a federal issue is certain to play a major role, should be deemed to arise under. But that is not the world in which we live. And plaintiffs should not be able to subvert the rule that we are stuck with.

• Abstention. No one has raised Colorado River abstention, although it would seem to fit. The state actions were filed first (by the same people filing the federal action), it creates piecemeal litigation by breaking a key issue in the state case into separate federal litigation, and there is no reason to believe the state court cannot adjudicate the federal issues.

I do not understand the point of this strategy--what do they gain by pursuing the issues in this posture? They must want a federal forum, but they are not legally entitled to it. They must want one injunction and judgment stopping defendants from raising the damages cap. But not every doctor or (I presume) every hospital, clinic, and health-care provider is a defendant and thus not every doctor and provider can be subject to the injunction. No single person or entity can be enjoined in a way that protects the entire class. They are proceeding on the understanding that the law itself can be declared or enjoined, but that is not how this works--remedies run against persons ("any interested party" in the language of § 2201).

This action should be rejected on procedural grounds. But neither the defendants nor the court seem to recognize the many problems with this suit.