Sample v. The American National Red Cross
- Jesse Furman
- 1:21-cv-02005
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Sample v. The American National Red Cross, Judge Furman declined to remand the case because Plaintiff forfeited that request.
Plaintiff Sharonda Sample, the American National Red Cross, and SeviceMaster Professional Cleaning Services; the case was not remanded by this order.
What happened
In Sample v. The American National Red Cross, the American National Red Cross removed the case to federal court. Another defendant, SeviceMaster Professional Cleaning Services, had been served but had not validly agreed to the removal.
Plaintiff did not ask the court to send the case back to state court within the required 30 days. She also did not respond when the court invited her to address whether the case should be sent back.
The court declined to remand the case, concluding that Plaintiff had forfeited any argument for remand. Judge Jesse M. Furman did not decide whether the removal was procedurally proper.
The detailed version
- Sample v. The American National Red Cross · No. 1:21-cv-02005
- Jesse Furman
- May 5, 2021
Background
The American National Red Cross removed the case to federal court on March 8, 2021. The opinion states that SeviceMaster Professional Cleaning Services, another defendant, had been served on February 19, 2021, but did not validly consent to removal. The court cited authority stating that a company cannot consent to removal through a non-lawyer representative.
Remand Issue
A remand would send the case back to the state court from which it was removed. The court noted that Plaintiff did not move for remand within 30 days of removal, as required by 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c). Plaintiff also did not respond to the American National Red Cross’s submission about whether the case should be remanded, despite the court’s invitation to do so.
Ruling
The court concluded that Plaintiff had forfeited any argument for remand and declined to remand the case. It expressly stated that it was not deciding whether the removal was procedurally proper. Judge Jesse M. Furman also noted uncertainty about whether the court had authority to order a remand on its own more than 30 days after removal, but did not resolve that issue.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.