Commissioner of Motor Vehicles v. Amelio
- Rearden
- 1:24-cv-03523
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Commissioner of Motor Vehicles v. Amelio, Judge Rearden remanded the improperly removed Connecticut case to Connecticut Superior Court.
Defendant Carmine P. Amelio and the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles; the action was returned to the Connecticut Superior Court.
What happened
In Commissioner of Motor Vehicles v. Amelio, Defendant Carmine P. Amelio, representing himself, moved a Connecticut state-court case to the Southern District of New York.
The court explained that a state case may be moved only to the federal court covering the place where the state case is pending. Because this case was pending in Connecticut, moving it to New York was improper.
Judge Rearden remanded the case to the Connecticut Superior Court, closed the federal case, warned Amelio that further improper filings could lead to a filing restriction, and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
The detailed version
- Commissioner of Motor Vehicles v. Amelio · No. 1:24-cv-03523
- Rearden
- May 15, 2024
Background
The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles began an action against Defendant Carmine P. Amelio in the Connecticut Superior Court for the Judicial District of Litchfield. Amelio, who was representing himself, removed that state-court action to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Reasoning
The court held that a state case may be removed only to the federal district court that covers the location where the state case is pending. Because the underlying action was pending in Connecticut, removal should have been to the federal court in Connecticut, not to the Southern District of New York. The court treated the improper removal as a defect requiring remand.
The court also noted that Amelio had previously filed a virtually identical notice of removal in a prior related proceeding and that the court had remanded that matter for the same reason. The court warned that additional improper notices of removal or other frivolous litigation could lead to an order barring Amelio from filing new actions in this court without prior permission.
Ruling
Judge Jennifer H. Rearden ordered the case remanded to the Connecticut Superior Court for the Judicial District of Litchfield and directed the clerk to send that court a certified copy of the order, send Amelio a copy, and close the federal case. The court certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The order did not decide the underlying claims in the Connecticut action.
Effect
The federal court would not keep the removed case. The action was returned to the Connecticut Superior Court, and the federal case was closed.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.