Mahoney-Fernandes v. CVS Pharmacy Inc.
- 1:20-cv-06474
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Mahoney-Fernandes v. CVS Pharmacy Inc., the court denied remand, holding removal timely and diversity jurisdiction established.
The ruling keeps Amanda Mahoney-Fernandes’s case against CVS in federal court rather than returning it to New York state court; it also treats the unidentified manufacturer’s citizenship as irrelevant to removal at this stage.
What happened
In Mahoney-Fernandes v. CVS Pharmacy Inc., Amanda Mahoney-Fernandes sued CVS Pharmacy Inc. and a manufacturer identified only as John Doe over skin injuries allegedly caused by a defective ice pack bought at a CVS store. She claimed $750,000 in damages.
CVS removed the case from New York state court to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction. Mahoney-Fernandes asked the federal court to send it back, arguing that removal was premature because the manufacturer had not been identified and that the parties were not completely diverse.
The court denied the motion to remand. It ruled that CVS removed the case within the required time, that the unknown manufacturer's citizenship did not matter for removal, and that complete diversity existed because Mahoney-Fernandes was a New York citizen while CVS Albany, LLC was a citizen of Rhode Island. The order was issued by the court on November 9, 2020.
The detailed version
- Mahoney-Fernandes v. CVS Pharmacy Inc. · No. 1:20-cv-06474
- Nov. 9, 2020
Background
Amanda Mahoney-Fernandes filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court against CVS Pharmacy Inc. and John Doe Manufacturer. She alleged that she suffered skin injuries after using a defective ice pack purchased at a CVS store. CVS Albany, LLC owned the store and appeared in the state-court case under the name “CVS Albany, LLC, i/p/a CVS Pharmacy Inc.” The opinion refers to that defendant as CVS.
CVS served Mahoney-Fernandes with a demand for a statement of damages. In a response dated July 22, 2020, she claimed total damages of $750,000. CVS removed the case to federal court on August 17, 2020, invoking diversity jurisdiction. Mahoney-Fernandes moved to remand, meaning she asked the federal court to return the case to state court.
Arguments and analysis
A case may be removed based on diversity jurisdiction when the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000 and complete diversity exists between the plaintiffs and defendants. The removal statute generally gives a defendant 30 days after receiving notice that a case has become removable.
The court held that removal was timely because CVS filed its notice within 30 days after receiving Mahoney-Fernandes’s response stating that she sought $750,000. The court rejected the argument that removal was premature because John Doe Manufacturer had not yet been identified. Under the removal statute, the citizenship of defendants sued under fictitious names is disregarded when determining whether a case is removable based on diversity jurisdiction.
The court also rejected the argument that complete diversity was missing. The opinion states that Mahoney-Fernandes is a citizen of New York. For diversity purposes, a limited liability company’s citizenship depends on the citizenship of its members. CVS Albany, LLC’s sole member was CVS Pharmacy, Inc., which the notice of removal identified as a Rhode Island corporation with its principal place of business in Rhode Island. The court therefore treated CVS as a citizen of Rhode Island and found complete diversity.
Ruling
The court denied Mahoney-Fernandes’s motion to remand and directed the Clerk of Court to terminate the motion at docket entry 6. The opinion does not clearly identify the judge’s name in the supplied text; its signature is garbled.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.