A resident of a Florida assisted living facility died shortly after contracting COVID-19. The representatives of her estate brought an action in state court against the owners and operators of the facility, alleging that the defendants failed to prevent the spread of the virus at the facility and asserting only state-law claims. The defendants removed…
Tag: Removal
Post-Removal Intervention Destroys Diversity Jurisdiction
Once a case is removed to federal district court on the basis of the diverse citizenship of the original parties, staying there is not guaranteed. Certain subsequent events can still deprive the court of jurisdiction. One such event, Fed. R. Civ. P. 24 intervention of a non-diverse plaintiff, led to a recent Eleventh Circuit decision…
“Local Controversy” CAFA Exception Not Established by Proof of Class Citizenship
An inartfully pleaded class definition coupled with a failure of proof was enough to prevent a class-action plaintiff from invoking the Class Action Fairness Act’s “local controversy” exception to avoid removal from the sheltering arms of a Florida circuit court, according to the Eleventh Circuit in Simring v. GreenSky, LLC, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 8002…
Derivative Jurisdiction Doctrine Does Not Apply to Personal Jurisdiction
In the category of legal doctrines that have outlived whatever usefulness that they once had falls the doctrine of “derivative jurisdiction”—that a federal district court must dismiss a removed case if the state court from which it was removed lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. The doctrine was repealed by statute for cases removed under the general removal…
Third-Party Counterclaim Defendants’ Removal Bid Foiled
“Perhaps some might think removal is not the most riveting topic,” begins Judge Robin Rosenbaum’s opinion for the court in Bowling v. U.S. Bank National Association, 2020 WL 3424928 (11th Cir. June 23, 2020). (Not so with our readers, most of whom relish a good removal.) The removal issue in Bowling stemmed from the Supreme…
Foundry Employees’ Action is a “Mass Action” Subject to Removal Under the Class Action Fairness Act
The Eleventh Circuit has clarified the scope of the “local event exception” to the federal-court jurisdiction over “mass actions” conferred by the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), holding that claims by former foundry employees against manufacturers and distributors of products used at the foundry are not within the exception. Spencer v. Specialty Foundry Prods. Inc.,…
Court Limits Review of Remand Order Based on One Defendant’s Forum Selection Clause
The Eleventh Circuit waded into a procedural thicket in Overlook Gardens Properties, LLC v. ORIX USA, L.P., 2019 WL 2590869 (11th Cir. June 25, 2019), ultimately concluding that it had no appellate jurisdiction to review an order remanding a removed case to state court . At issue was the effect of a forum selection clause…
When Confirming Diversity of Citizenship, Trust—but Verify
In Purchasing Power, LLC v. Bluestem Brands, Inc., 2017 WL 1046103 (11th Cir. Mar. 20, 2017), the Eleventh Circuit reminded litigants and their counsel that it is critical to confirm the citizenship of all relevant corporate entities in determining the existence of diversity jurisdiction, but reversed the district judge’s order imposing “inherent power” sanctions on…
Patronage Capital Class Action Removable; Dismissal Affirmed
An electric cooperative organized under state law is nonetheless entitled to remove a putative class action to federal court under the “federal officer” removal statute, according to the Eleventh Circuit in Caver v. Central Alabama Electric Cooperative, 845 F.3d 1135 (11th Cir. 2017), which also affirmed dismissal of a complaint seeking immediate return of patronage capital. Specifically,…