Article
The Million-Dollar Diversity Docket.pdf
BYU Law Review
(2022)
Abstract
Congress has always imposed an amount in controversy
requirement for general diversity jurisdiction. Congress initially
set the jurisdictional amount at $500 in 1789 and has raised it six
times, most recently in 1996 to its current $75,000 threshold.
That requirement has been described as ensuring that the federal
courts not become bogged down by “petty” or “insubstantial”
state-law cases. Given that it has been twenty-five years since the last
increase, we are probably overdue for another one. But to what
amount? For what purpose? And with what effects on the size and
composition of the diversity docket? What would happen if
Congress raised the jurisdictional amount from the current
$75,000 to, say $250,000? How many cases would that eliminate,
and which ones? Would it affect some types of cases, or some types
of litigants, more than others? And what if Congress took a much
bolder step and raised the jurisdiction amount to $500,000 or even
$1 million? Using a novel hand-coded data set of pleadings in 2,900 cases,
we predict the likely effect of increases to the jurisdictional amount
at three levels: $250,000, $500,000, and $1 million. Our analysis
shows that, while increases do (as they must) result in fewer
diversity cases, the decline is neither extreme nor linear, with
more than half of the current docket remaining even with an
increase to$1million.Our analysis also shows that
the jurisdictional amount is not a neutral throttle. Instead,
different areas of law, different parts of the country, and different litigants are more affected by changes in the jurisdictional amount
than others. Our findings provide new guidance for Congress to consult
when evaluating proposed changes to the amount threshold.
Informed by how increases to the jurisdictional amount affect both
the size and composition of the diversity docket, Congress can
determine whether proposed increases achieve legislative goals
and serve or disserve jurisdictional policy. For scholars, our
empirical work provides a new lens into the ongoing debates about
the basic functions and functioning of the federal diversity docket.
Keywords
- federal courts,
- federal jurisdiction,
- diversity jurisdiction,
- amount in controversy
Disciplines
Publication Date
Summer 2022
Citation Information
Steven S. Gensler and Roger Michalski. "The Million-Dollar Diversity Docket.pdf" BYU Law Review Vol. 47 Iss. 6 (2022) p. 1653 - 1718 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/steven_gensler/89/