Plaintiff filed a lawsuit under the federal interpleader statute seeking to join claimants from three different states who sought to invoke the citizen-suit enforcement provision of the Texas Heartbeat Act against the plaintiff. Plaintiff also sought declaratory relief and asked the district court to declare the Texas law unconstitutional. The district court dismissed the lawsuit, concluding the existence of parallel state-court proceedings justified abstention. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, although on different grounds, finding that while the district court had jurisdiction over the interpleader action the case nonetheless belonged in state court as it could not find justification for federal court intervention in the matter. (SYKES and KIRSCH, concurring)
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Jurisdiction