Peacock v. Thomas

Summary

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Thomas joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer, held that federal courts lack ancillary jurisdiction over a new lawsuit seeking to impose an existing federal money judgment on a person not already liable for it. Thomas's complaint also supplied no independent federal jurisdiction because it alleged no underlying violation of ERISA or an ERISA plan; veil piercing alone was not an ERISA cause of action. The Court reversed the Fourth Circuit's judgment. Justice Stevens dissented alone, concluding that continuing enforcement jurisdiction permitted relief against a person who fraudulently diverted the judgment debtor's assets. He would have modified the excessive relief rather than denied jurisdiction altogether.