## Facts

- Marcus D. Mims alleged Arrow Financial Services, LLC repeatedly called his cellular phone to collect a debt using an automatic telephone dialing system or prerecorded/artificial voice without consent.
- Mims sued in federal district court seeking damages and injunctive relief under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. § 227.
- Mims invoked federal-question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331.
- After non-TCPA claims were dismissed, the district court dismissed the TCPA claim for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, concluding private TCPA actions were limited to state courts.
- The Eleventh Circuit affirmed, reading the TCPA’s private-action provision as vesting jurisdiction exclusively in state courts.

## Issues

1. Whether the TCPA’s authorization of a private action “in an appropriate court of [a] State” divests federal district courts of federal-question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 over private TCPA suits.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court unanimously reversed and remanded.
- Federal district courts have federal-question jurisdiction under § 1331 over private TCPA claims.
- State and federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction over private TCPA actions.
- The TCPA’s state-court language for private actions is permissive and does not clearly make state jurisdiction exclusive.

## Legal Principles

- A claim “arises under” federal law for § 1331 purposes when federal law creates the cause of action and supplies the rules of decision.
- Federal causes of action carry a presumption of concurrent state-court jurisdiction; exclusivity requires a clear congressional statement.
- A statute’s specific jurisdictional provision does not displace § 1331 absent clear textual indication that Congress intended to bar federal-question jurisdiction.
- The TCPA’s structure shows Congress knew how to specify exclusivity (it did so for state-initiated TCPA enforcement actions in federal court) and did not do so for private suits.

## Conclusion

The Court held that private TCPA claims fall within federal-question jurisdiction and that Congress did not make state courts the exclusive forum; private TCPA actions may be filed in either state or federal court.


Mims v. Arrow Fin. Servs., LLC, 565 U.S. 368 (2012)