Holden v. Haynes et al, No. 2:2013cv00068 - Document 43 (E.D. Wash. 2014)
Court Description: ORDER DENYING MOTION TO REMAND. Denying 30 Motion to Remand. Signed by Senior Judge Lonny R. Suko. (RG, Case Administrator)
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Holden v. Haynes et al Doc. 43 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 9 BRENDA K. HOLDEN, Plaintiff, 10 11 12 13 14 NO. CV-13-0068-LRS ORDER DENYING MOTION TO REMAND (ECF NO. 28) vs. DARRELL HAYNES; DOE BUSINESS ENTITIES 1 THROUGH 10, INCLUSIVE; AND ROE POLICE OFFICERS 1 THROUGH 20,INCLUSIVE, Defendants. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 BEFORE THE COURT is Plaintiff’s Expedited Motion For Remand For Lack of Jurisdiction, ECF No. 28, filed on April 7, 2014 and noted without oral argument. Plaintiff moves the Court, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3), for immediate remand of this action to the Spokane County Superior Court (Cause No. 12-2-04033-2) due to this Court’s alleged lack of both diversity jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction. Plaintiff bases her motion to remand on the voluntary dismissal of all federal causes of action for which the removal was based and that all remaining claims against the remaining Defendant, 26 Darrell Haynes, rest on Washington state tort law. Additionally, 27 28 ORDER - 1 Dockets.Justia.com 1 Plaintiff argues that there was never diversity subject matter 2 jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §1332(a). Plaintiff claims that because 3 Defendant Haynes is an alien (Canadian citizen), his residency does 4 not factor into a diversity analysis. 5 because this Court has had minimal involvement in this case and all 6 remaining claims are based on state law, the Court should remand to 7 state court. 8 9 Plaintiff concludes that Defendant Haynes opposes Plaintiff’s arguments and motion for remand arguing Plaintiff is in error. At the time Defendant Haynes 10 prepared his response to the instant motion, the Court had not yet 11 granted Plaintiff’s request to dismiss her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim 12 against Mr. Haynes, thus Defendant argued this court still has federal 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Defendant Haynes also asserts that diversity jurisdiction is present because such jurisdiction exists when a resident of one of the United States sues a resident of a foreign country and the amount in dispute is more than $75,000. Here, Mr. Haynes is a Canadian citizen, and Plaintiff claims damages in excess of $1 million. Defendant concludes that jurisdiction in this Court is appropriate, and the 20 Court should reject Plaintiff's motion for remand. 21 A. Brief Summary of Pertinent Facts 22 The original complaint commenced October 11, 2012 in Spokane 23 County Superior Court and was then removed to federal court on 24 February 14, 2013 under 28 U.S.C. § 1441 as a result of the 42 U.S.C. 25 §1983 claims against the State of Washington. ECF No. l. There were 26 also 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims against the State of Washington and 27 28 ORDER - 2 1 County of Spokane. ECF No. 1. 2 diversity of the party. 3 The removal notice did not mention Both of those governmental Defendants were voluntarily dismissed 4 by Plaintiff pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(2). ECF Nos. 15 and 18. 5 The Court, after Defendant's responsive memorandum was filed, granted 6 Plaintiff's unopposed motions to dismiss certain causes of action 7 against Defendant Haynes on May 8 and May 9, 2014 (ECF Nos. 40, 41), 8 resulting in the elimination of all federal claims in the action. 9 Plaintiff indicates that Defendant Raymar Enterprises & 10 Transportation (“Raymar”) was named but never served. 11 Plaintiff them moved to voluntarily dismiss Defendant Raymar, which 12 the Court granted on May 9, 2014. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ECF No. 41. ECF No. 2. The remaining non-Doe Defendant in this case, Darrell Haynes, was and is a citizen of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. ECF No. 12. a resident of State of Washington. Plaintiff Brenda K. Holden is ECF No. 1. The alleged torts at issue occurred in Spokane County, State of Washington. ECF No. 1. B. Analysis The original complaint, commenced October 11, 2012, was filed in state court. On February 7, 2013 Plaintiff accomplished service of the 20 amended complaint on the Washington State Patrol. Plaintiff’s amended 21 complaint alleged a federal cause of action. Specifically, Plaintiff 22 asserted a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 Fourth Amendment claim and claims under 42 23 U.S.C. § 1981. All defendants who had appeared at that time agreed to 24 removal of this action to federal court. Thus, the suit was removed 25 by the Assistant Attorney General pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441 on 26 February 14, 2013 based on federal claims, however, no mention was 27 28 ORDER - 3 1 made of diversity in the notice of removal. Although not raised by 2 Defendant Haynes in the briefing, it may have been that the presence 3 of the “Doe Defendants” raised a possible risk of nondiversity. 4 purposes of removal, though, “the citizenship of defendants sued under 5 fictitious names shall be disregarded.” 6 For See 28 U.S.C. §1441(b)(1). Plaintiff then filed several motions to dismiss various 7 defendants and eliminate all federal claims. 8 this motion to remand and Defendant Haynes opposes remand now based on 9 diversity. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1. Plaintiff then filed Federal Claim(s) Eliminated–Supplemental Jurisdiction If a claim “arising under” federal law existed at the time of removal, the federal court has supplemental jurisdiction to adjudicate even though the federal claim has been dropped from the case and only state law claims remain. Nishimoto v. Federman-Bachrach & Assocs., 903 F.2d 709, 715 (9th Cir.1990); Anderson v. Aon Corp., 614 F.3d 361, 364-65 (7th Cir.2010) (applies to both voluntary and involuntary dismissals). A plaintiff may not compel remand by amending a complaint to eliminate the federal question upon which removal was based. Sparta Surgical Corp. v. National Ass’n of Securities Dealers, Inc., 159 F.3d 1209, 1213 (9th Cir. 1998). 21 In deciding whether to dismiss or remand, the court may consider 22 whether plaintiff has engaged in “manipulative tactics”–i.e., 23 dismissing federal claims after removal in order to get back to state 24 court. “If the plaintiff has attempted to manipulate the forum, the 25 court should take this behavior into account in determining whether 26 the balance of factors to be considered under the pendent jurisdiction 27 28 ORDER - 4 1 doctrine support a remand in the case.” 2 Cohill, 484 U.S. 343, 357 (1988). 3 decision to remand remains discretionary and is dependent upon what 4 will best accommodate the values of economy, convenience, fairness and 5 comity. 6 1991). 9 In any event, a district court’s Harrell v. 20th Century Ins. Co., 934 F.2d 203, 205 (9th Cir. 7 8 Carnegie-Mellon Univ. v. 2. Diversity The district court has no discretion to remand a case after elimination of the federal claim, however, if diversity of citizenship 10 then exists under an amended pleading. 11 removed a case need not amend its removal notice or file a new notice 12 after an amended complaint changes the ground for federal 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 jurisdiction. A party that has properly Williams v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 471 F.3d 975 (9th Cir.2006). Once a case has been properly removed, the district court has jurisdiction over it on all grounds apparent from the complaint, not just those cited in the removal notice. 28 U.S.C.A. § 1446. If a defendant properly removed a state-court civil action on federal-question grounds, based on the presence of a federal claim in plaintiff's original complaint, that defendant is not required to 20 amend its removal notice or file a new notice after the plaintiff 21 filed an amendment to complaint that removed the federal claim(s), but 22 that also made clear that requirements for diversity jurisdiction were 23 satisfied. In the Costco case, removal was already perfected under 28 24 U.S.C.A. § 1446(b). 25 The Ninth Circuit in Costco explained: 26 “ If the original complaint in fact supported federal jurisdiction on both diversity and federal 27 28 ORDER - 5 question grounds, Costco was not required to list both grounds in its notice of removal. The civil removal statute, unlike the removal statute for criminal cases, has no requirement that all grounds for removal be listed in the notice. Compare 28 U.S.C. § 1446(b) with id. § 1446(c)(2).” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Costco, 471 F.3d at 976 n.1. The Ninth Circuit further opined in Costco: We have long held that post-removal amendments to the pleadings cannot affect whether a case is removable, because the propriety of removal is determined solely on the basis of the pleadings filed in state court. See Sparta Surgical Corp. v. Nat'l Ass'n of Sec. Dealers, Inc., 159 F.3d 1209, 1213 (9th Cir.1998); O'Halloran v. Univ. of Wash., 856 F.2d 1375, 1379 (9th Cir.1988). It follows that a party that has properly removed a case need not amend its removal notice or file a new notice after an amended complaint changes the ground for federal jurisdiction. Because post-removal pleadings have no bearing on whether the removal was proper, there is nothing a defendant can or need do to perfect the removal. See Yarnevic v. Brink's, Inc., 102 F.3d 753, 755 (4th Cir.1996). Indeed, the idea of filing a notice of removal in a case that is already pending in federal court, having been properly removed is nonsensical. After all, “a Supplemental Notice of Removal would, if granted, have the effect of removing a case that has already been removed.” Nolan v. Boeing Co., 715 F.Supp. 152, 153 n.1 (E.D.La.1989). 471 F.3d at 976-77. 20 In the present case, Plaintiff is a citizen of Washington, and 21 Defendant Haynes is a citizen of Canada, a foreign state. Plaintiff 22 claims damages exceeding a million dollars. Accordingly, this Court 23 has diversity jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(2), which 24 reads: 25 (a) The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions where the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and is 26 27 28 ORDER - 6 between-. . . (2) citizens of a State and citizens or subjects of a foreign state, except that the district courts shall not have original jurisdiction under this subsection of an action between citizens of a State and citizens or subjects of a foreign state who are lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States and are domiciled in the same State; ... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Once a case has been properly removed, the district court has 8 jurisdiction over it on all grounds apparent from the complaint, not 9 just those cited in the removal notice. See Brockman v. Merabank, 40 10 F.3d 1013, 1016 (9th Cir.1994). The Court finds that removal was 11 already perfected in this case and this Court has diversity 12 jurisdiction (the “Doe Defendants” are disregarded) in addition to 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 supplemental jurisdiction. Plaintiff’s attempt to manipulate the forum is to no avail. After reviewing the files and records herein, and the Court having been fully advised, it is hereby: ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that Plaintiff's Motion For Remand (ECF No. 28), is DENIED. IT IS SO ORDERED. The District Court Executive is directed to 20 enter this Order. 21 DATED this 20th day of May, 2014. 22 s/Lonny R. Suko 23 LONNY R. SUKO SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 24 25 26 27 28 ORDER - 7
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