T & E Pastorino Nursery v. Duke Energy Trading & Marketing, LLC

MEMORANDUM *

The parties are familiar with the factual and procedural background of this case, so we recount it only as necessary to our discussion. Plaintiffs claim that the district court did not have jurisdiction over their purely state law causes of action, and that even if there was jurisdiction, the Court erroneously concluded that Plaintiffs’ claims were preempted and barred by the filed rate doctrine. We find that the district court had jurisdiction and properly dismissed Plaintiffs’ claims.

1. Denial of Remand

Plaintiffs’ allege that Defendants’ conduct in the wholesale energy market violated California law. Plaintiffs’ claims are similar to those of the plaintiffs in Sparta Surgical Corp. v. Nat’l Ass’n of Sec. Dealers, Inc., 159 F.3d 1209 (9th Cir.1998) (“Sparta”), and California ex rel. Lockyer v. Dynegy, Inc., 375 F.3d 831 (9th Cir. 2004) (“Dynegy”). In both cases, this Court affirmed removal where the plaintiffs’ state law claims were partially predicated on the defendants’ conduct in an area of exclusive federal jurisdiction. See Sparta, 159 F.3d at 1212 (finding that district court had removal jurisdiction because plaintiffs claims were predicated on the NASD’s…