Search removal before service

The passage of time can change our collective perception of what is normal and accepted.  By way of a somewhat contrived example, back in 1989, there was a popular cross-over rap song called “Just a Friend” by Biz Markie.  It was catchy, entertaining, and a contrast to so-called “gangsta rap” that scared the Parents Music…

Our recent fraudulent joinder post ended with the observation, “[h]aving found fraudulent or procedural misjoinder, the court ‘sever[ed] the action’ against the healthcare provider ‘so as to preserve [the manufacturer’s] right to removal in the remaining action.’” (quoting In re Stryker Rejuvenate & ABG II Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, 2023 WL 6514996, at *3 (D. Minn. 2023)).

That started us thinking about other uses of severance of non-indispensable parties to preserve diversity – particularly, as in the Rejuvenate case, medical malpractice defendants in product liability litigation – to preserve federal diversity jurisdiction.  We have discussed several individual decisions that successfully employed Rule 21 in this fashion:  here (discussing Mayfield v. London Women’s Care, PLLC, 2015 WL 3440492 (E.D. Ky. May 28, 2015)); here (discussing In re Yasmin & Yaz (Drospirenone) Marketing, Sales Practices & Products Liability Litigation, 2011 WL 2746086 (S.D. Ill. July 11, 2011)); here (discussing Stone v. Zimmer, Inc., 2009 WL 1809990 (S.D. Fla. 2009)); here (discussing DeGidio v. Centocor, Inc., 2009 WL 1867676 (N.D. Ohio June 29, 2009)); and here (discussing Joseph v. Baxter International, Inc., 614 F. Supp.2d 868, 872 (N.D. Ohio 2009)).

Continue Reading Removal, Severance & Rule 21

[This post is not from the Reed Smith side of the blog.]

Litigation is a game. It is a game with real stakes and broad implications, but it is nonetheless a game played according to certain rules. As in all games, the participants—plaintiffs and defendants alike—try to maximize their advantage within those rules.

In litigation…

Here is another post from our junior blogger-in-training, Dean Balaes.  He tackles one of the blog’s favorite subjects, removal before service to bring our readers the skinny on the first case where a plaintiff attempted to interpose a COVID-19 objection to snap removal, unsuccessfully.  Since other plaintiffs might try the same thing, that makes…

We have always puzzled over why pre-service removals are the least bit controversial.  We are referring to what are known as “snap removals,” or removals to federal court before any forum defendant has been served.  They are one way to comply with the removal statute’s forum defendant rule.  It’s pretty simple:  Even when you have…

The DDL blog is no friend of the forum defendant rule – the exception to removability of diverse cases.  You wouldn’t find us lamenting if it suddenly disappeared because it would take with it busloads of litigation tourists who would no longer have any incentive to sue a forum defendant – often a nominal defendant…

Earlier this month we explained that a “wrinkle removal,” was one that capitalized on a “wrinkle” in the language of 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b)(2), which provides that a case cannot be removed on the basis of diversity if any “properly joined and served” defendant is a citizen of the forum state.  But if the forum…

In the early days of the Blog, in 2009, when Bexis and Mark Herrmann were operating in relative obscurity, we posed the question whether it was ethical to remove to federal court a case that may well be non-removable and hope that opposing counsel is “asleep at the switch”:

“Heck, I’ll remove it anyway.  Opposing

…

Drug & Device Resources

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FDA-regulated products now account for an estimated one-fifth of overall economic activity in the U.S. They have also been the focus of a litigation explosion. This timely guide covers all aspects of litigation involving drugs, medical devices, vaccines and other FDA-regulated prescription products.
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