Parker v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

Filing 15

OPINION AND ORDER denying 8 Motion to Remand. Signed by Judge John E. Steele on 9/30/2014. (RKR)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
FORT MYERS DIVISION
SHAD PARKER,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No: 2:14-cv-497-FtM-29CM

STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE
INSURANCE COMPANY,
Defendant.
OPINION AND ORDER
This matter comes before the Court on plaintiff's Motion to
Remand (Doc. #8) filed on September 3, 2014.
Response (Doc. #14) on September 26, 2014.

Defendant filed a
For the reasons set

forth below, the motion to remand, and the request for attorney’s
fees and costs, is denied.
Removal jurisdiction exists only where the district court
would have had original jurisdiction over the action.

28 U.S.C.

§ 1441(a); Darden v. Ford Consumer Fin. Co., Inc., 200 F.3d 753,
755

(11th

Cir.

2000).

The

party

seeking

to

invoke

federal

jurisdiction bears the burden of establishing the jurisdiction of
the federal court.

Sammie Bonner Constr. Co. v. W. Star Trucks

Sales, Inc., 330 F.3d 1308, 1310 (11th Cir. 2003); Williams v.
Best Buy Co., 269 F.3d 1316, 1319 (11th Cir. 2001).

Thus, the

burden of establishing federal jurisdiction is upon State Farm
Automobile Insurance Company.

Plaintiff filed a Complaint (Doc. #2) in state court alleging
damages resulting from a motorcycle accident.

Defendant filed a

timely Notice of Removal (Doc. #1) on the basis of diversity
jurisdiction.

It is undisputed that plaintiff is a citizen of

Florida and defendant is a citizen of Illinois.

It is also not

disputed that damages exceed the $75,000 threshold amount under 18
U.S.C. 1332(a).

According, this case is a “civil action brought

in a State court of which the district courts of the United States
have original jurisdiction” and is therefore removable to federal
court.

28 U.S.C. § 1441(a).

Plaintiff has not established any basis for remand to state
court.

While defendant may be a corporation qualified to do

business in Florida, that does not make it a Florida corporation
or a Florida citizen.

A domestic corporation is a citizen of both

the state of its incorporation and the state where it has its
principal

place

of

business.

28

U.S.C.

§

1332(c)(1).

The

principal place of business is determined by the “nerve center”
test,

which

headquarters.

typically

but

not

always

is

the

corporation’s

Hertz Corp. v. Friend, 559 U.S. 77, 81 (2010).

Defendant’s removal to federal court does not raise issues of
personal jurisdiction, as plaintiff’s motion suggests.

Removal

involves subject-matter jurisdiction, not personal jurisdiction.
Thus,

defendant

has

met

its

burden

- 2 -

of

establishing

federal

jurisdiction, and plaintiff has not shown any reason remand is
appropriate.
Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED:
Plaintiff's Motion to Remand (Doc. #8) is DENIED.
DONE and ORDERED at Fort Myers, Florida, this
of September, 2014.

Copies:
Counsel of Record

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