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[PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 19-14958
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 0:19-cv-61366-MGC
LEROY MACK,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
USAA CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY,
Defendant-Appellee.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
____________________________
(April 22, 2021)
Before WILSON, LAGOA, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges.
BRASHER, Circuit Judge:
Leroy Mack totaled his car and was not satisfied with the method his insurer,
USAA Casualty Insurance Company, used to calculate what it paid him. So he sued
USAA on behalf of himself and a putative class for declaratory judgments that
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USAA’s method was inconsistent with Florida law and the insurance policy. As
supplemental relief to those declaratory judgment claims, Mack also asked for
USAA to recalculate the class members’ claims using a legal method and make them
new offers. Mack concedes, however, that a “correct” calculation method will not
necessarily result in higher offers.
Our caselaw is clear that Mack does not have standing to seek prospective
relief on the off chance that he might total a car again in the future. The question for
us, then, is whether Mack has Article III standing because he requests that USAA
make new settlement offers as supplemental relief if his declaratory judgment claim
succeeds. After careful review and with the benefit of oral argument, we hold that a
plaintiff’s request for supplemental relief does not change the standing analysis for
a declaratory judgment claim. Accordingly, we conclude that Mack does not have
standing to bring his declaratory judgment claims, vacate the district court’s order
of dismissal, and remand to the district court with instructions that the district court
remand the case back to the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit,
Broward County, Florida.
I. BACKGROUND
While insured under a Florida motor vehicle insurance policy issued by
USAA Casualty Insurance Company, Leroy Mack was involved in a car accident
that rendered his vehicle a total loss. Under the policy, USAA will pay up to the
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“actual cash value” of the covered vehicle in the event of a total loss. To determine
that value, USAA uses a third-party service, the CCC ONE valuation system, which
purports to automatically calculate actual cash value based on comparable vehicle
data from its own computer system and data on the insured’s vehicle input by USAA
adjusters. In the event of a disagreement over the amount of loss—which includes
actual cash value—the policy allows for either party to demand appraisal.
Mack submitted a claim under the policy, and USAA agreed to coverage.
USAA offered to pay Mack the actual cash value of his vehicle as determined by the
CCC ONE system, and Mack accepted payment. But about two months after cashing
that check, Mack sent USAA a demand letter. He argued that USAA had violated
Florida law and breached its policy by failing to pay him license and title transfer
fees or a document fee. USAA responded that it was only responsible for “actual
cash value and tax.”
Mack then filed a class-action complaint in Florida state court on behalf of
himself and a putative class of similarly situated policyholders against USAA
seeking (1) a declaratory judgment that USAA’s use of the CCC ONE system
violates Florida law and supplemental relief in the form of an order requiring USAA
to recalculate the class members’ total loss claims under a compliant method and to
make new offers based on those recalculations; (2) a declaratory judgment that
USAA’s refusal to pay separate title, license, and dealer fees in connection with total
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loss claims breaches its coverage policy and supplemental relief in the form of an
order requiring USAA to pay the title and license fees and offer dealer fees to the
class members; and (3) damages for breach of contract based on USAA’s failure to
pay Mack and the purported class members $83.25 in title and license fees.
Importantly, and in contrast to his claim for title and license fees, Mack did not seek
damages for USAA’s failure to pay dealer fees or an order requiring their payment.
USAA contended that dealer fees are included in the advertised vehicle prices used
by the CCC system and, therefore, they were necessarily included in the actual cash
value payments made to each class member.
USAA interpreted the complaint as contesting its valuation of Mack’s vehicle
and invoked its right under the policy to demand appraisal. USAA then filed a notice
of removal to federal court pursuant to
28 U.S.C. §§ 1441 and 1446 and the Class
Action Fairness Act,
28 U.S.C. §§ 1332(d) and 1453. After removal, USAA moved
to dismiss the complaint on the basis that it amounted to a dispute over the amount
of loss and that the policy required Mack to fully comply with the appraisal and other
provisions before filing suit. Mack responded that his claims raised purely legal
questions and did not constitute a dispute over the amount of loss, therefore, they
were not amenable to appraisal. The district court determined that “[t]his is a case
about payment of money,” not “about legal coverage or whether or not a contract
provides for anything.” Accordingly, the court dismissed the case without prejudice
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“pending appraisal.” Mack timely appealed.
After Mack filed his initial brief with this Court, the parties reached a
settlement as to the title and license fees claims, thereby mooting the only damages
claim. The only remaining count is for declaratory judgment and supplemental relief,
in which Mack seeks two declaratory judgments: (1) that USAA’s use of the CCC
System violates Florida law and the policy and (2) that Florida law and the policy
require that USAA pay dealer fees as part of any total loss settlement. Supplemental
to those declarations, Mack seeks (1) a recalculation of all class members’ total loss
claims under a new method and new offers based on those amounts if they are higher
than the amount originally offered and (2) an order requiring USAA to offer dealer
fees to the class members. As to his request for supplemental relief related to his
CCC claim, Mack insists before this Court that a recalculation of his and other class
members’ claims under a new method will not necessarily result in a higher offer by
USAA. Instead, he states that “recalculation using a legal method might or might not
result in a higher value than the CCC system value” and that he “does not claim his
vehicle’s value was greater than USAA’s calculation.”
This Court directed the parties to file supplemental briefs addressing whether
Mack has Article III standing to pursue those remaining claims in federal court.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
Article III standing “is a threshold jurisdictional question that we review de
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novo.” Muransky v. Godiva Chocolatier, Inc.,
979 F.3d 917, 923 (11th Cir. 2020)
(en banc). Likewise, we review the district court’s grant of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion
to dismiss de novo. Mills v. Foremost Ins. Co.,
511 F.3d 1300, 1303 (11th Cir. 2008).
III. DISCUSSION
“Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. They possess only that
power authorized by Constitution and statute[.]” Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co.
of Am.,
511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994). Article III of the Constitution limits the
jurisdiction of federal courts to adjudicating actual “Cases” and “Controversies.” To
determine whether a dispute satisfies Article III’s case-or-controversy requirement,
courts have established three justiciability doctrines, “[p]erhaps the most important”
of which is the standing doctrine. See Wooden v. Bd. of Regents of the Univ. Sys. of
Ga.,
247 F.3d 1262, 1273 (11th Cir. 2011). At an “irreducible constitutional
minimum,” the standing doctrine requires that a plaintiff have “(1) suffered an injury
in fact, (2) that is fairly traceable to the challenged conduct of the defendant, and (3)
that is likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision.” Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins,
136 S. Ct. 1540, 1547 (2016) (citing Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife,
504 U.S. 555, 560–
61 (1992)).
USAA, not Mack, invoked federal jurisdiction by removing the case. “The
party invoking federal jurisdiction bears the burden of establishing these elements.”
Lujan,
504 U.S. at 561. Specifically, that party “must demonstrate standing for each
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claim [the plaintiff] seeks to press and for each form of relief that is sought.” Davis
v. Fed. Election Comm’n,
554 U.S. 724, 734 (2008) (cleaned up). That a plaintiff
has standing to bring one claim does not save another claim for which he does not;
“standing is not dispensed in gross.” Lewis v. Casey,
518 U.S. 343, 358 n.6 (1996);
see also Davis,
554 U.S. at 733–34.
The allegations necessary to establish standing depend on the type of relief
sought. To establish standing when seeking retrospective relief, a plaintiff must
show that he has suffered “an invasion of a legally protected interest” that is both
“concrete and particularized” and “actual or imminent, not ‘conjectural’ or
‘hypothetical.’” Lujan,
504 U.S. at 560. But if a plaintiff seeks prospective relief,
such as a declaratory judgment, he must “allege facts from which it appears there is
a substantial likelihood that he will suffer injury in the future.” Malowney v. Fed.
Collection Deposit Grp.,
193 F.3d 1342, 1346 (11th Cir. 1999) (citing City of Los
Angeles v. Lyons,
461 U.S. 95, 102 (1983)). And that future injury must be “real,”
“immediate,” and “definite.” Id. at 1347.
As an initial matter, we can easily dispense with the possibility that Mack has
standing for prospective relief. The complaint alleges that Mack and other class
members “are in doubt concerning their rights under” the policy and, because they
are still insured by USAA, they “could reasonably anticipate suffering another total
loss in the future.” But we held in A&M Gerber Chiropractic LLC v. GEICO
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General Insurance Company, that “the possibility that [a plaintiff] may someday be
in another car accident . . . and still be insured by [the insurance company] under the
same or a similar policy being interpreted the same way, thereby having this issue
present itself again . . . is too contingent to constitute a ‘substantial likelihood’ of
future injury.”
925 F.3d 1205, 1215 (11th Cir. 2019). Applying A&M Gerber, the
complaint’s allegations are insufficient to establish the substantial likelihood of
future harm necessary to establish standing for a declaratory judgment claim.
The next question is whether Mack has sought, and has standing to seek,
retrospective relief—i.e., more money for his totaled car. USAA argues that,
although Mack labeled his claims as being for a declaratory judgment, Mack really
wants a “monetary recovery in the form of new insurance coverage payments.” This
is so, USAA argues, because Mack seeks “further or supplemental relief in the form
of an order that USAA must recalculate their total loss claims” and “an order
requiring USAA to offer dealer fees to Mack and the Class.”
We will not construe Mack’s declaratory judgment claims as claims for
retrospective relief for the purpose of assessing his standing. At this juncture, our
job is to determine whether Mack has standing to pursue the claims that he has
chosen to present in the complaint. And Mack chose to frame his claims as seeking
prospective relief through requests for declaratory judgments; he specifically chose
not to pursue damages for the retrospective harm that he has also arguably alleged.
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It is no secret that, in doing so, Mack sought to avoid federal jurisdiction. But he has
a right to do so. See Atl. Marine Constr. Co. v. U.S. Dist. Ct. for the W. Dist. of Tex.,
571 U.S. 49, 63 (2013). We do not know whether this kind of unusual claim is
cognizable under Florida law, but we will not rewrite Mack’s complaint to satisfy
Article III’s requirements. Instead, we must accept his allegations and determine if
they establish Article III standing for his declaratory judgment claims.
A plaintiff may follow any successful claim for a declaratory judgment with
a request for supplemental relief. Both the federal and Florida declaratory judgment
acts expressly allow a plaintiff to request further relief based on a declaratory
judgment. See
28 U.S.C. § 2202;
Fla. Stat. § 86.061. And, although we have not
addressed the issue, other courts have interpreted both statutes as allowing money
damages as a form of supplemental relief. See, e.g., Noatex Corp. v. King Constr. of
Hous., LLC,
732 F.3d 479, 487 (5th Cir. 2013) (“Monetary damages are allowed
under [Section 2202] and we review a district court’s decision to grant or deny such
monetary damages for abuse of discretion.”); McAllister v. Breakers Seville Ass’n,
Inc.,
41 So. 3d 405, 408 (Fla. Ct. App. 2010) (stating that, under Florida’s
Declaratory Judgments Act, supplemental relief “includes all relief necessary,
including money judgments”). In fact, some courts have recognized that “a
declaratory judgment is normally a prelude to a request for other relief, whether
injunctive or monetary” because “[n]o one wants an empty declaration.” Berger v.
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Xerox Corp. Ret. Income Guarantee Plan,
338 F.3d 755, 763–64 (7th Cir. 2003)
(emphasis omitted).
We conclude that the possibility of supplemental relief does not convert
Mack’s declaratory judgment claims into an effort to remedy past injuries. A court
may decide whether Mack is eligible for supplemental monetary relief only after
issuing a declaratory judgment in his favor. See McAllister,
41 So. 3d at 408 (“Once
a declaratory judgment is rendered in a party’s favor, the court then considers any
motions for supplemental relief.” (emphasis omitted)). And we have been clear that
“[i]njury in the past . . . does not support a finding of an Article III case or
controversy when the only relief sought is a declaratory judgment.” Malowney, 193
F.3d at 1348. Instead, for a federal court “to have jurisdiction to issue a declaratory
judgment,” a plaintiff “must assert a reasonable expectation that the injury they have
suffered . . . will be repeated in the future.” Id. at 1347. Because there is no
substantial likelihood that Mack will total his car again while insured by USAA, he
lacks standing to sue for a declaratory judgment about the method it uses to assess
payments under the policy.
To argue for a contrary result, USAA relies on this Court’s analysis in AA
Suncoast Chiropractic Clinic, P.A. v. Progressive American Insurance Company,
938 F.3d 1170 (11th Cir. 2019). The question in AA Suncoast was whether the
district court had erred in certifying an injunction class under Federal Rule of Civil
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Procedure 23(b)(2). See AA Suncoast, 938 F.3d at 1172. A class action may be
maintained under Rule 23(b)(2) if “final injunctive relief or corresponding
declaratory relief is appropriate respecting the class as a whole.” Id. at 1174. The
plaintiffs in AA Suncoast sought a declaration that the insurer’s practice of relying
on non-treating physicians’ medical determinations was unlawful. Id. at 1173. They
also sought an injunction that would restore coverage limits for policies affected by
the unlawful reliance on non-treating physician determinations and notify any
affected policyholders or providers. Id. We determined that the requested relief was
“not an injunction at all” because, rather than “address the treatment of future
claims,” it would “restore claimants to the claims-handling process free of the
improper cap” on benefits. Id. at 1175. Because the requested injunction would only
“redress past harms” and not “prevent future injury,” class certification was
improper under Rule 23(b)(2). Id.
Our holding in AA Suncoast does not help USAA here. Here, unlike in AA
Suncoast, our inquiry is unrelated to whether Mack is entitled to the declaratory
relief he seeks. In AA Suncoast, we looked to the harm alleged in the complaint to
determine whether injunctive or corresponding declaratory relief was appropriate
because we were deciding whether class certification was proper under Rule
23(b)(2). The issue before us now is whether Mack has alleged the type of harm
necessary to establish his standing to bring declaratory judgment claims. If Mack
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lacks standing to pursue his declaratory judgment claims, then we are powerless to
resolve whether declaratory relief is appropriate to remedy the alleged harm.
USAA also argues that this case is more akin to Mills v. Foremost Insurance
Co.,
511 F.3d 1300 (11th Cir. 2008), in which we held that the plaintiffs did have
Article III standing, than A&M Gerber, in which we held that the plaintiffs did not.
In Mills, however, we addressed only whether the plaintiffs had standing to sue for
damages.
Id. at 1306–07. We did not address the plaintiffs’ standing to seek
declaratory or injunctive relief. Because Mack seeks declaratory relief, our reasoning
in Mills does not apply.
CONCLUSION
In deciding what to do with Mack’s remaining claims, we are mindful that,
“[b]ecause removal jurisdiction raises significant federalism concerns, federal courts
are directed to construe removal statutes strictly.” Univ. of S. Ala. v. Am. Tobacco
Co.,
168 F.3d 405, 411 (11th Cir. 1999). The standing doctrine “stems directly from
Article III’s ‘case or controversy’ requirement,” therefore, it “implicates our subject
matter jurisdiction.” Nat’l Parks Conservation Ass’n v. Norton,
324 F.3d 1229, 1242
(11th Cir. 2003). Accordingly, if the district court had determined that Mack lacked
standing to bring his declaratory judgment claims, it would have been required to
remand those claims back to state court. See
28 U.S.C. § 1447(c) (“If at any time
before final judgment it appears that the district court lacks subject matter
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jurisdiction, the case shall be remanded.”); A&M Gerber, 925 F.3d at 1216
(“Because the District Court had no jurisdiction to entertain this suit, we VACATE
its judgment. The District Court is instructed to enter an order remanding the case to
[state court].”); see, e.g., Reed v. Heil Co.,
206 F.3d 1055, 1061 (11th Cir. 2000)
(instructing the district court to remand a claim over which it lacked subject matter
jurisdiction to state court but holding that summary judgment was appropriate for
another claim which was properly before the district court). Because “all doubts
about jurisdiction should be resolved in favor of remand to state court,” Am. Tobacco
Co.,
168 F.3d at 411, we therefore VACATE the district court’s order of dismissal
and REMAND to the district court with instructions for the district court to remand
the unsettled claims to the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward
County, Florida.
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