Trustees of the Construction Industry v. Desert Valley Landscape & Maintenance, Inc.

MEMORANDUM **

The district court dismissed Trustees’ claims against Richardson for two reasons: It doubted that pendent party jurisdiction was constitutional and, to the extent that it was constitutional, declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction. We review de novo the issue whether the district court had supplemental jurisdiction. See Hoeck v. City of Portland, 57 F.3d 781, 784 (9th Cir.1995). We review for abuse of discretion the district court’s decision to decline supplemental jurisdiction. See Bryant v. Adventist Health Sys.fW., 289 F.3d 1162 , 1165 (9th Cir.2002).

1. Pendent party jurisdiction is constitutional so long as the pendent state law claim is part of the same “case or controversy” as the federal claim. See Mendoza v. Zirkle Fruit Co., 301 F.3d 1163, 1174 (9th Cir.2002); 28 U.S.C. § 1367 (a) (providing “the district courts shall have supplemental jurisdiction over all other claims that are so related to [federal claims] that they form part of the same case or controversy under Article III”). Nonfederal claims are part of the same “case” as federal claims when they “ ‘derive from a common nucleus of operative fact’ and are such that a plaintiff ‘would…