Commissioner of Motor Vehicles v. Amelio
- Subramanian
- 1:24-cv-03543
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
Commissioner of Motor Vehicles v. Amelio: Judge Subramanian remanded the action because defendants removed it to the wrong federal district.
The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, Saverio Amelio, and PPA Carmine Amelio; the case returns to the Connecticut state court where it was pending.
What happened
The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles sued Saverio Amelio and PPA Carmine Amelio in Connecticut state court. The defendants removed the case to the Southern District of New York, claiming federal jurisdiction based on the parties’ citizenship.
The court explained that a case removed from state court must be filed in the federal district covering that state court. Because the Connecticut state court is covered by the District of Connecticut, removal to the Southern District of New York was improper.
Judge Arun Subramanian remanded the case to Connecticut state court and directed the clerk to send the state court a certified copy of the order and close the federal case.
The detailed version
- Commissioner of Motor Vehicles v. Amelio · No. 1:24-cv-03543
- Subramanian
- May 10, 2024
Background
The action was filed in the Superior Court in the Judicial District of Litchfield, Connecticut. On May 7, 2024, Saverio Amelio and PPA Carmine Amelio removed it to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. They asserted that federal jurisdiction was proper based on diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.
Ruling
The court held that removal was improper because federal law requires a removed case to be filed in the federal district and division covering the state court where the case was pending. The District of Connecticut covers all Connecticut state courts, so the case could not properly be removed to the Southern District of New York.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(d), the court could remand the case on its own for this procedural defect because the remand occurred within 30 days after the notice of removal was filed. The court remanded the case to the Superior Court in the District of Litchfield, Connecticut. It also directed the clerk to mail a certified copy of the order to that court and close the federal case.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.