Jane Doe #1 v. Matt Blair

Filing

PUBLISHED AUTHORED OPINION filed. Motion disposition in opinion granting Motion to amend/correct [999563708-2]. Originating case number: 5:14-cv-23501. [999778081]. [15-1211]

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PUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-1211

JANE DOE #1, a minor, by her next friends and guardians, Ben
and
Kelly
Houdersheldt;
BEN
HOUDERSHELDT;
KELLY
HOUDERSHELDT; JANE DOE #2, a minor, by her next friends and
guardians, Ben and Kelly Houdersheldt,
Plaintiffs - Appellees,
v.
MATT BLAIR,
company,

an

individual;

RES-CARE,

INC.,

a

foreign

Defendants - Appellants.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern
District of West Virginia, at Beckley.
Irene C. Berger,
District Judge. (5:14-cv-23501)

Argued:

January 28, 2016

Decided:

March 21, 2016

Before SHEDD and FLOYD, Circuit Judges, and Loretta C. BIGGS,
United States District Judge for the Middle District of North
Carolina, sitting by designation.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion.
Judge Floyd wrote
the opinion, in which Judge Shedd and Judge Biggs joined.

ARGUED:
Edward
Taylor
George,
MACCORKLE
LAVENDER,
PLLC,
Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellants.
Erwin Leon Conrad,
CONRAD & CONRAD, PLLC, Fayetteville, West Virginia, for
Appellees.
ON BRIEF: Michael E. Mullins, MACCORKLE LAVENDER,
PLLC, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellant Matt Blair. John

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P. Fuller, Suleiman O. Oko-ogua, BAILEY & WYANT, PLLC,
Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellant Res-Care, Inc. Jamison
T. Conrad, CONRAD & CONRAD, PLLC, Fayetteville, West Virginia;
Thomas A. Rist, RIST LAW OFFICES, Fayetteville, West Virginia,
for Appellees.

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FLOYD, Circuit Judge:
This
order

remanding

district
had

appeal

not

court

challenges
the

district

established

that

court’s

case

underlying

determined

been

the

state

to

federal

because

sponte

court.

diversity

the

sua

removing

The

jurisdiction
defendant—a

corporation—failed to allege its principal place of business.
Defendants argue that the district court did not have authority
to remand the case.

Plaintiffs contend that we do not have

jurisdiction to review the remand order.
court

based

its

remand

order

on

a

Because the district

procedural

defect

in

the

removal notice, we conclude both that we have jurisdiction to
review the remand order and that the district court did not have
authority to issue the remand order sua sponte.

Accordingly, we

reverse the district court’s remand order and remand this case
to the district court for further proceedings.

I.
On March 27, 2014, Jane Doe #1, through her next friends
and guardians Ben and Kelly Houdersheldt, filed a complaint in
West Virginia state court against Matt Blair (Blair) and ResCare, Inc. (Res-Care).
case

to

federal

court,

On July 14, 2014, Res-Care removed the
asserting

based on diversity of citizenship.

subject

matter

jurisdiction

In the removal notice, Res-

Care alleged that Jane Doe #1 was a West Virginia resident,
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Blair

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was

Kentucky.

a

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Virginia

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resident,

and

it

was

incorporated

in

However, Res-Care did not allege the state in which

it had its principal place of business.

An amended complaint

subsequently added Jane Doe #2 and the Houdersheldts—all West
Virginia residents—as plaintiffs.
On January 20, 2015, 191 days after Res-Care removed the
case, the district court sua sponte remanded the case to state
court

because

“federal

established.”

diversity

J.A. 54.

jurisdiction

has

not

been

The court determined that “[a]bsent

some assertion from either party as to ResCare’s principal place
of business, th[e] Court lacks jurisdiction.”

J.A. 56.

Blair

filed a motion to alter or amend under Federal Rule of Civil
Procedure 59(e) and for reconsideration under Rule 60, which
Res-Care joined.

Blair noted in his motion that no party had

challenged the court’s jurisdiction and that the parties were
able to determine that Res-Care’s principal place of business is
Louisville, Kentucky.
The

district

court

Plaintiffs did not oppose the motion.

denied

the

motion

and

Res-Care

and

Blair

whether

we

have

timely appealed.

II.
A.
At

the

jurisdiction

outset,
to

review

we

must

the

determine

district
4

court’s

remand

order.

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“Congress has placed broad restrictions on the power of federal
appellate
removed

courts

cases

to

to

review

state

district

court.”

court

Things

Petrarca, 516 U.S. 124, 127 (1995).

orders

remanding

Remembered,

Inc.

v.

Title 28 U.S.C. § 1447(d)

provides that remand orders are generally “not reviewable on
appeal

or

“interpreted
suggest.”

otherwise.”
§

1447(d)

However,
to

cover

the

less

Supreme

than

its

Court
words

has
alone

Powerex Corp. v. Reliant Energy Servs., Inc., 551

U.S. 224, 229 (2007).

As we have previously noted, § 1447(d)

is tightly circumscribed to cover only remand orders
within the scope of 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c), based on (1)
a district court’s lack of subject matter jurisdiction
or (2) a defect in removal other than lack of subject
matter jurisdiction that was raised by the motion of a
party within 30 days after the notice of removal was
filed.
Ellenburg v. Spartan Motors Chassis, Inc., 519 F.3d 192, 196
(4th Cir. 2008) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c)) (internal quotation
marks omitted);

see

also

Things

Remembered,

516

U.S.

at

127

(“[O]nly remands based on grounds specified in § 1447(c) are
immune from review under § 1447(d).” (citation omitted)).
Under this statutory scheme, a district court may remand a
case sua sponte for lack of subject matter jurisdiction at any
time, 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c), and such an order is not reviewable,
id. § 1447(d).

However, “a remand based on a defect other than

lack of subject matter jurisdiction must be effected by granting
a timely filed motion”; if such an order is “entered without a
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motion at all,” § 1447(d) does not bar our review.

Ellenburg,

519 F.3d at 197; see also Corp. Mgmt. Advisors, Inc. v. Artjen
Complexus, Inc., 561 F.3d 1294, 1296 (11th Cir. 2009) (“[W]e
have jurisdiction to review whether the district court exceeded
its authority under § 1447(c) by remanding this case because of
a perceived procedural defect in the removal process without
waiting for a party’s motion.” (citation and internal quotation
marks omitted)).
“[A]

district

court’s

mere

citation

to

§

1447(c)

is

insufficient to bring a remand order within the purview of that
provision.”
576,

584

In re Blackwater Sec. Consulting, LLC, 460 F.3d

(4th

Cir.

2006).

“We

must

instead

look

to

the

substantive reasoning behind the order to determine whether it
was issued based upon the district court’s perception that it
lacked subject matter jurisdiction.”

Id.

Our jurisdiction to

review the district court’s remand order here depends on whether
the order was based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction or a
procedural defect in the removal process.

B.
Three

other

circuits

have

considered

the

precise

issue

here: whether a failure to establish a party’s citizenship at
the time of removal is a procedural or jurisdictional defect.
All

three

circuits

determined
6

that

such

a

failure

is

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“procedural, rather than jurisdictional.”

In re Allstate Ins.

Co., 8 F.3d 219, 221 (5th Cir. 1993); see also Artjen, 561 F.3d
at 1296; Harmon v. OKI Sys., 115 F.3d 477, 479 (7th Cir. 1997).
In Allstate, the Fifth Circuit held that a procedural defect
within the meaning of § 1447(c) refers to “any defect that does
not go to the question of whether the case originally could have
been

brought

in

federal

district

court.”

(citation and quotation marks omitted).
that

the

defendant’s

failure

to

8

F.3d

at

221

The court determined

allege

the

plaintiff’s

citizenship in its notice of removal was merely a procedural
error because “although [the defendant] failed conclusively to
demonstrate diversity, the record discloses no dispute that it
in fact existed.”

Id. (emphasis in original).

Because the

failure to allege citizenship was a procedural defect, the Fifth
Circuit determined that it had jurisdiction to review the remand
order.

Id. at 223-24.

The Eleventh Circuit relied on Allstate

in reaching the same conclusion.

Artjen, 561 F.3d at 1297.

Our decision in Ellenburg is also instructive.

There, the

complaint filed in state court stated no dollar amount for the
value of the damages claimed.

Ellenburg, 519 F.3d at 194.

The

notice of removal, which was based on diversity jurisdiction,
stated that the amount in controversy exceeded $75,000.
194–95.

Id. at

The district court sua sponte considered whether to

remand the case to state court.

Id. at 197.
7

First, it “recited

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the well-established principles” of subject matter jurisdiction.
Id.
of

The court then determined that the defendants’ allegation
diversity

Notice

of

jurisdiction

Removal

was

failed

“‘inadequate’

‘to

establish

and

that

the

controversy exceeds the jurisdictional amount.’”
district

court).

The

district

court

that

their

amount

in

Id. (quoting

concluded

that

“‘the

removing party ha[d] not presented a sufficient factual basis
for the Court to make an informed decision’ as to the amount in
controversy.”

Id.

district court).

(emphasis

by

Fourth

Circuit)

(quoting

Within days, the defendants filed a Rule 59(e)

motion with facts supporting their allegation of the amount in
controversy.
relying

on

Id. at 198.
its

earlier

The district court denied the motion,
ruling

that

defendants

had

failed

include the factual basis in the removal notice itself.

to

Id.

On appeal, we determined that § 1447(d) did not bar our
review because the district court’s remand order was not based
on finding a lack of subject matter jurisdiction, but rather on
the procedural insufficiency of the removal notice.

Id. at 198.

We noted that even when the defendants presented the district
court with evidence (in their Rule 59(e) motion) that it may
indeed

have

nonetheless
motion.

subject
relied

matter
on

its

jurisdiction,
procedural

Id.

8

the

ruling

district
and

court

denied

the

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C.
The district court here proceeded in much the same way as
the district court in Ellenburg.
case

to

state

court,

the

In its order remanding the

court

recited

the

principles of subject matter jurisdiction.

well-established

It then determined

that “federal diversity jurisdiction has not been established”
because “neither party has alleged Defendant ResCare’s principal
place

of

business.”

J.A.

54–55.

Accordingly,

remanded the case to West Virginia state court.

the

court

The court later

denied Blair’s Rule 59(e) motion despite the fact that Blair
provided evidence of Res-Care’s principal place of business.
The
order

at

district
issue

court’s

in

remand

Ellenburg

order

in

one

does

differ

respect.

from

the

Whereas

the

district court in Ellenburg “never reached the conclusion that
it lacked subject matter jurisdiction,” 519 F.3d at 197, the
district court here stated at the end of its order that it
“lacks jurisdiction.”

J.A. 56.

We must, however, look at the

“substantive reasoning behind the order.”
at 584.

Blackwater, 460 F.3d

Here, it is clear to us that the court based its

decision on the fact that the removal notice did not present a
factual

basis

whether

subject

sufficient
matter

to

permit

jurisdiction

the

court

existed.

to

determine

The

district

court, in the first line of its opinion, observed that “federal
diversity

jurisdiction

has

not
9

been

established.”

J.A.

54

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(emphasis added).

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And the court’s conclusion that it lacked

jurisdiction was based on the inadequacy of the removal notice:
“Absent

some

assertion
of

from

business,

either
this

party

Court

as

lacks

to

ResCare’s

principal

place

jurisdiction.”

J.A. 56.

As was the case in Allstate, however, “although [Res-

Care] failed conclusively to demonstrate diversity, the record
discloses no dispute that it in fact existed.”

8 F.3d at 221

(emphasis in original).
We conclude that the district court’s remand order was not
based on a lack of subject matter jurisdiction, but rather on
the procedural insufficiency of the removal notice.

See Artjen,

561 F.3d at 1296-97 (finding that “a perceived lack of subject
matter jurisdiction” based on a failure to establish citizenship
did not prevent appellate review of the remand order).

Because

no party filed a motion raising this procedural deficiency, the
order falls outside the scope of § 1447(c) and, therefore, our
review is not barred by § 1447(d).

III.
As

in

Ellenburg,

“[o]ur

conclusion

that

we

have

jurisdiction to review the district court’s remand order also
tends to forecast our ruling on the outcome of that review.”
519 F.3d at 198.

In other words, the fact that we can review

the district court’s remand order because it fell outside the
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scope of § 1447(c) leads to the conclusion that the order fell
outside the district court’s authority to order remand.

Id.

“Section

the

1447(c)

responsibility

effectively
of

assigns

policing

to

the

parties

non-jurisdictional

questions

regarding the propriety of removal, permitting them to assert a
procedural

defect

remain

the

in

or

to

federal

waive

the

forum.”

defect

Id.

if

(emphasis

they
in

choose

to

original).

Therefore, a district court exceeds its statutory authority when
it remands a case sua sponte based on a procedural defect absent
a motion from a party.
Because
authority

by

the

Id. (collecting cases).

district

remanding

court

this

case

here
sua

exceeded
sponte,

its
we

statutory

reverse

the

court’s remand order and remand this case to district court for
further proceedings.

Additionally, we grant Res-Care’s motion

to amend its removal notice pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1653, which
provides that “[d]efective allegations of jurisdiction may be
amended, upon terms, in the trial or appellate courts.”

REVERSED AND REMANDED

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