Jimenez-Castro v. Greenwich Insurance Company

Background

Elvis Jimenez-Castro brought a state-court action against Greenwich Insurance Company seeking underinsured motorist benefits under an insurance policy for damages arising from a motor vehicle accident. Greenwich removed the action to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York based on diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Greenwich asserted that Jimenez-Castro was a New York citizen, that Greenwich was incorporated under Delaware law and had its principal place of business in Connecticut, and that the amount in controversy exceeded $75,000.

The state-court complaint said that the damages exceeded the amount established by 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a). The court explained that this statement gave Greenwich enough information to determine that the case was removable. Although the record indicated that service occurred through the New York Department of Financial Services on August 28, 2020, the court treated September 25, 2020, as the latest date Greenwich received the summons and complaint.

Removal Deadline

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1446(b), a defendant generally must file a notice of removal within 30 days after receiving an initial pleading that shows the case is removable. The court concluded that the 30-day period began on September 25, 2020, because the complaint explicitly referred to the federal jurisdictional statute and stated that the damages exceeded its threshold. The deadline was therefore October 26, 2020.

Greenwich filed its notice of removal on November 3, 2020. The court rejected Greenwich’s argument that the complaint was ambiguous because it also referred to the jurisdictional limits of lower New York courts. The court explained that New York law requires personal-injury complaints filed in the state’s supreme court to state whether the damages exceed the limits of lower courts, while the separate reference to § 1332(a) indicated that the damages exceeded $75,000. The two statements were not contradictory.

Remand

The court issued an order requiring the parties to explain why the case should not be remanded. It determined that it could remand the case on its own initiative because the remand concerned a procedural defect and the order was issued within 30 days after the notice of removal. The court held that Greenwich removed the action 39 days after receiving the complaint and therefore removed it too late.

Disposition

The court remanded the case to state court. Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. did not decide the merits of Jimenez-Castro’s claim for underinsured motorist benefits.