Shu Hui Yen v. Ryan Christopher Foltz et al

Filing 8

ORDER SUMMARILY REMANDING IMPROPERLY REMOVED ACTION by Judge David O. Carter. IT IS ORDERED that: (1) this matter be REMANDED to the Superior Court of California, County of Orange, North Justice Center, 1275 North Berkeley Avenue, Fullerton, CA 92832, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c); (2) the Clerk send a certified copy of this Order to the state court; and (3) the Clerk serve copies of this Order on the parties. Case Terminated. Made JS-6 (es)

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1 2 3 JS-6 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 SHU HUI YEN, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) RYAN CHRISTOPHER FOLTZ, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) ) ) ) Case No. SA CV 17-0987 DOC (JCGx) ORDER SUMMARILY REMANDING IMPROPERLY REMOVED ACTION The Court will summarily remand this unlawful detainer action to state court because Defendants removed it improperly. 21 On June 8, 2017, Ryan Christopher Foltz and Serena E. Ellinghausen 22 (“Defendants”), having been sued in what appears to be a routine unlawful detainer 23 action in California state court, lodged a Notice of Removal of that action in this Court 24 (“Notice”), and Defendants have also presented requests to proceed in forma pauperis 25 (“Requests”). [Dkt. Nos. 1, 3, 4.] The Court has denied Defendants’ Requests under 26 separate cover because the action was improperly removed. To prevent the action 27 from remaining in jurisdictional limbo, the Court issues this Order to remand the 28 action to state court. 1 Simply stated, Plaintiff could not have brought this action in federal court in the 1 2 first place, and so removal is improper. Notably, even if complete diversity of 3 citizenship exists, Defendants cannot properly remove the action because Defendants 4 reside in the forum state. (See Notice at 1); see also 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b)(2). Nor does Plaintiff’s unlawful detainer proceeding raise any federal legal 5 6 question. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1441. Pursuant to the “well-pleaded complaint 7 rule,” federal-question jurisdiction exists “only when a federal question is presented on 8 the face of the plaintiff’s properly pleaded complaint.” Caterpillar Inc. v. Williams, 9 482 U.S. 386, 392 (1987). Here, Plaintiff’s underlying complaint asserts a cause of 10 action for unlawful detainer. [See Dkt. No. 1 at 5-8.] “Unlawful detainer is an 11 exclusively state law claim that does not require the resolution of any substantial 12 question of federal law.” Martingale Invs., LLC v. Frausto, 2013 WL 5676237, at *2 13 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 17, 2013). In the Notice, Defendants assert, in conclusory fashion, that 14 a “[f]ederal question exists because Defendant’s Demurrer . . . depend[s] on the 15 determination of Defendant’s rights and Plaintiff’s duties under federal law.” (Notice 16 at 2.) However, neither a federal-law counterclaim nor a federal-law defense may 17 serve as a basis for federal question jurisdiction. See Vaden v. Discover Bank, 556 18 U.S. 49, 60 (2009) (holding that federal-question jurisdiction “cannot be predicated on 19 an actual or anticipated defense” nor on “an actual or anticipated counterclaim”). 20 21 // 22 23 // 24 25 // 26 27 // 28 2 1 Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that: (1) this matter be REMANDED to the 2 Superior Court of California, County of Orange, North Justice Center, 1275 North 3 Berkeley Avenue, Fullerton, CA 92832, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant 4 to 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c); (2) the Clerk send a certified copy of this Order to the state 5 court; and (3) the Clerk serve copies of this Order on the parties. 6 7 8 9 DATED: June 13, 2017 _______________ HON. DAVID O. CARTER UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3

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