Civil Procedure – Subject Matter Jurisdiction Practice Test

Grable focuses on when a state-law claim may be brought in federal court because it raises a substantial federal issue. The test requires four things: the federal issue must be necessarily raised by the state claim, actually disputed, substantial, and capable of resolution in federal court without disrupting the federal-state balance.

The scenario where a state-law negligence claim requires interpreting a federal environmental regulation central to the merits fits this perfectly. The federal regulation is necessary to decide whether the defendant was negligent, it’s actively contested, it’s a substantial federal issue (affecting many cases and enforcement priorities), and a federal court can address it without upsetting the balance between federal and state courts.

The other options don’t align as well. A state-law contract claim with no federal issue has no federal question to begin with. A patent claim is already a federal claim under federal law, not a state-law claim that raises a federal-question question under Grable. A purely domestic relations claim involves no federal issue either.