Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation v. Weeks

Filing 7

ORDER remanding this action to Shelby County Court of General Sessions. Signed by Judge Thomas L. Parker on 08/17/2018. (Parker, Thomas)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
WESTERN DIVISION
FEDERAL HOME LOAN MORTGAGE
CORPORATION,
Plaintiff,
v.
JUDY K. WEEKS,
Defendant.  

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

No. 2:18-cv-02402-TLP-cgc

ORDER REMANDING THIS ACTION TO SHELBY COUNTY COURT OF
GENERAL SESSIONS
This action comes before the Court on Defendant’s Notice of Removal. (ECF No. 1.)
Plaintiff brought this action in the General Sessions Court of Shelby County, Tennessee.
Plaintiff attempts to evict Defendant from a residence at 8656 Loxley Place in Cordova,
Tennessee. (Id. at PageID 7.)
A notice of removal requires a short and plain statement asserting a defendant’s
grounds for removal. See 28 U.S.C. § 1446(a). At the outset, the Court must examine
whether it has jurisdiction before addressing the merits. Jurisdiction in this Court is
established through a federal question or diversity of citizenship. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and
1332. Here, Defendant’s Notice of Removal provides no basis for jurisdiction. Defendant’s
Notice gives no rise to potential federal-question jurisdiction because the only cited federal
statutes are those governing removal itself. (ECF No. 1 at PageID 1, 4.) For diversity of
citizenship, the cause of action must include citizens of different states and the amount in
controversy must be greater than $75,000. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Defendant appears to be a

Tennessee resident. As a matter of law, a defendant sued in her home state cannot remove
that action to federal court asserting diversity of citizenship. See 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b)(2).
What is more, because this case arose in the General Sessions Court of Shelby County,
Tennessee, the jurisdictional limit is $25,000.
As a result, the Court does not find any means to exercise jurisdiction over this action.
It thus DISMISSES this action and REMANDS this action to the Shelby County, Tennessee,
Court of General Sessions.
SO ORDERED, this 17th day of August, 2018.
s/ Thomas L. Parker
THOMAS L. PARKER
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

2