ASO v. HHS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-09106
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In ASO v. HHS Development, Judge Swain remanded the case because a nonparty improperly removed it from state court.
Mahtaub Moore and the parties to the state-court action were affected: the federal court returned the action to the New York Supreme Court, Westchester County, and closed the federal case.
What happened
ASO, LLC, et al. v. HHS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, INC., et al. began in New York state court. Mahtaub Moore, who was not a party to that case and was representing himself, filed paperwork trying to move it to federal court.
The court explained that federal law allows a defendant—but not a nonparty—to remove a state civil case to federal court. Because Moore was not a defendant, the removal was improper.
Judge Swain remanded the case to the New York Supreme Court, Westchester County, directed the federal clerk to send the state court a copy of the order, and closed the federal case.
The detailed version
- ASO v. HHS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION · No. 1:25-cv-09106
- Laura Swain
- Nov. 10, 2025
Background
The underlying civil action was originally filed in the New York Supreme Court, Westchester County. Mahtaub Moore, of Wilmington, Delaware, appeared without a lawyer and filed a notice of removal attempting to bring that state-court action to the federal district court. The opinion states that Moore was not a party to the state-court action, although his notice described him as “Plaintiff and Non-Party Intervenor.”
Legal standard
Under federal removal law, a defendant may move a state civil action to federal court when the federal court has original jurisdiction over the action. The removal notice must be filed by the defendant or defendants. The court explained that a nonparty is not permitted to remove a state-court action. It also explained that a federal court may send a removed case back to state court for a procedural defect within the applicable 30-day period, or for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction before final judgment.
Ruling
The court concluded that removal was improper because Moore was not a defendant and, instead, was a nonparty. The court therefore remanded the action under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c) to the New York Supreme Court, Westchester County. Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the federal clerk to mail a copy of the order to the clerk of that state court and to close the federal case. The order also states that all pending matters in the federal court concerning the action were terminated.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.