Suttles v. Vendor Resource Management et al

Filing 17

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER: The 16 Objection is OVERRULED, and the court ADOPTS the 15 Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge. It is hereby ORDERED that the 8 Motion to Remand is GRANTED. The Clerk is DIRECTED to take the necessary steps to remand this case to the Circuit Court of Elmore County, Alabama. Signed by Honorable Judge W. Harold Albritton, III on 3/17/2016. (Attachments: # 1 Civil Appeals Checklist) Copy mailed to Clerk, Circuit Court of Elmore County, AL.(dmn, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
NORTHERN DIVISION

CHERYL SUTTLES,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
VENDOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT; )
CITIMORTGAGE, INC.,
)
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC
)
REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC.,
)
ANCHOR MORTGAGE SERVICES, INC., )
)
Defendants.
)

CIVIL ACTION NO. 2:15-cv-934-WHA
(wo)

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

This cause is before the court on the Report and Recommendation of the Magistrate
Judge (Doc. #15), and Defendant Citimortgage, Inc.’s Objections thereto (Doc. #16).
Upon an independent evaluation and de novo review of the file in this case, the court
finds that the objection is without merit and is due to be overruled.
The court agrees with the reasoning of the Magistrate Judge that applying Central of
Georgia Ry. Co. v. Riegel Textile Corp., 426 F.2d 935 (1970), to find that the removal in this
case was appropriate would be an expansion of Riegel which has not been applied by the
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Federal courts are directed to construe removal statutes
strictly and to resolve all doubts about jurisdiction in favor of remand to state court. Univ. of S.
Ala. v. Am. Tobacco Co., 168 F.3d 405, 411 (11th Cir. 1999). Therefore, rather than extend
Riegel, the court finds it appropriate to remand this case to state court. See, e.g., ConocoPhillips

Co. v. Turner Industries Group, LLC, No. G-05-516, 2006 WL 213956, at *2 (S.D. Tex. Jan. 24,
2006) (stating that “[c]onstruing the Riegel decision strictly requires its limitation to cases where
the claim sought to be removed has been severed from the original claims.”).
Accordingly, the objection is OVERRULED, and the court ADOPTS the
Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge.
It is hereby ORDERED that the Motion to Remand (Doc. #8) is GRANTED.
The Clerk is DIRECTED to take the necessary steps to remand this case to the Circuit
Court of Elmore County, Alabama.

DONE this 17th day of March, 2016.
/s/ W. Harold Albritton
W. HAROLD ALBRITTON
SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

2