Question

A pedestrian was injured in a car accident involving two cars. the pedestrian filed a negligence action in federal district court against the first driver, seeking $100,000 in damages. the pedestrian is a citizen of state a and the first driver is a citizen of state

b. the first driver then filed a third-party claim against the second driver, claiming that the second driver is responsible for half of the harm caused to the pedestrian and seeking to recover half of any liability the first driver is found to have to the pedestrian. the second driver is a citizen of state
a. does the federal court have subject matter jurisdiction over the third-party claim asserted by the first driver against the second driver?

Answer 1

Yes, the driver may join his K claim with his negligence cross-claim against the State A city, but is not required to do so.

In this scenario the driver's contract claim is unrelated to the pedestrian's negligence claim, but the driver's negligence claim is related to the pedestrian's negligence claim. Thus, the contract claim also can be asserted in this case.