Erin Hughes et al v. Travelers Commercial Insurance Company

Filing 12

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS PUNITIVE DAMAGES 8 AND GRANTING MOTION TO REMAND 10 by Judge Otis D. Wright, II: Case Remanded to LOS ANGELES SUPERIOR COURT, SANTA MONICA COURTHOUSE, No. SC126699. MD JS-6. Case Terminated. (lc), Modified on 4/4/2017, (lc).

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JS-6

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United States District Court
Central District of California

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ERIN HUGHES; and ROBERT

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Case № 2:17-cv-01392-ODW(FFM)

HUGHES,
Plaintiff,

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v.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO

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TRAVELERS COMMERCIAL

DISMISS PUNITIVE DAMAGES [8]

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INSURANCE CO.; FARMERS

AND GRANTING MOTION TO

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INSURANCE GROUP; FOREMOST

REMAND [10]

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INSURANCE GROUP; and DOES 2-10,

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inclusive,

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Defendants.

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On March 14, 2017, Defendant Travelers Insurance Company (“Travelers”)

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filed a motion to dismiss punitive damages in this case (ECF No. 8), and on March 23,

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2017, Plaintiff Erin Hughes filed a motion to remand the case to state court (ECF No.

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10). The deadline for Plaintiffs to oppose Travelers’s motion to dismiss punitive

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damages was March 27, 2017. No opposition was filed; however, in Erin Hughes’s

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motion to remand, she included a waiver of any damages exceeding $74,999.00,

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thereby foreclosing her punitive damages claim and eliminating the Court’s diversity

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jurisdiction in this action.1 (See Damages Waiver, ECF No. 10-1.) Further, on April

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3, 2017, Travelers filed a notice of its non-opposition to remand the case to state court,

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given that Erin Hughes’s Damages Waiver and non-opposition to the motion to

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dismiss guarantee that the punitive damages issue is now moot. (ECF No. 11).

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In light of the fact that the motion to dismiss punitive damages is unopposed,

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the Court GRANTS the motion. (ECF No. 10.) In doing so, the Court eliminates any

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federal jurisdiction in this action. Observing this, the Court simultaneously GRANTS

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the motion to remand. The Clerk of Court shall close the case.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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April 4, 2017

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OTIS D. WRIGHT, II
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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Travelers removed this case to federal court based on diversity of citizenship, which requires that
all plaintiffs’ state citizenship be completely diverse from all defendants’ state citizenship, and that
the amount in controversy exceed $75,000.00. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332, 1446; (Not. of Removal 1,
ECF No. 1.)

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