7 West 21 LI LLC v. Mosseri

Background

7 West 21 LI LLC filed a holdover proceeding against Clement Moserri in the Housing Part of New York City Civil Court, New York County, under Index No. 303464/2021. Moserri, representing himself and proceeding without paying the normal filing fee, filed a notice seeking to remove that proceeding to federal court. He claimed that the state-court proceeding was a duplicate of an earlier holdover proceeding involving the same parties and alleged that it was filed to interfere with federal and Supreme Court proceedings.

The opinion also refers to an earlier related federal proceeding, in which Moserri had removed another holdover proceeding. In that earlier proceeding, the plaintiff conceded that the matter might present a federal question but argued that Moserri’s removal was untimely.

Court’s Analysis

Federal law permits a defendant to remove a state-court action to federal district court when the district court has original jurisdiction. The removal statute requires a notice containing a short and plain statement of the grounds for removal, together with copies of all process, pleadings, and orders served on the defendant in the state case.

The court found that Moserri’s notice did not comply with those requirements. He did not provide the required explanation or the state-court documents and merely asserted, without factual detail, that the proceeding was a duplicate of the earlier case.

Ruling

The court directed Moserri to file, within 30 days of the order, a declaration containing a short and plain statement of the grounds for removal and copies of all process, pleadings, and orders served on him in the state case. If he fails to comply and cannot show good cause for the failure, the matter will be remanded to state court under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c). The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Moserri permission to appeal without paying filing fees.

This order addressed the completeness of the removal filing; it did not decide whether the underlying state proceeding was properly removable or resolve the parties’ underlying dispute.