Domina Law Group Select Federal Jurisdiction Cases

From time to time, federal jurisdictional questions present themselves. Seldom do lawyers have to wrestle with two conflicting federal laws, each of which confers exclusive jurisdiction over a particular case on a different court.

But Domina Law Group had to do so in a case arising in bankruptcy but involving inverse condemnation by a federal agency. The Bankruptcy Act gives exclusive jurisdiction of a case like this to the bankruptcy court. The Tukert Act, passed during the Civil War, gives exclusive jurisdiction of condemnation cases to the Court of Federal Claims.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit was called upon to reconcile the two by arguments presented by Domina Law Group. Domina Law Group tried the case, involving an Arizona farmer’s lease with the BIA, and won a verdict of more than $1.0 million for the client. On appeal, Domina Law Group avoided dismissal of the case and loss of the client’s rights when the Ninth Circuit reconciled the two conflicting statutes.

• McGuire v. United States - 550 F.3d 903, 61 Collier Bankr.Cas.2d 211 (9th Cir. 2008)
• National American Ins. Co. v. CenTra, Inc. - 151 F.3d 780 (8th Cir. 1998)