The Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011, H.R. 394, quietly went into effect this month. This Act may be titled a "clarification" of federal jurisdiction and venue provisions, but it deserves attention because it will significantly increase the number of cases that a defendant may remove from state court to federal court by eliminating procedural roadblocks to federal jurisdiction.
The previous jurisdiction and removal statutes, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332, 1441, and 1446 et. seq., left unanswered several procedural questions that affect a defendant's ability to remove a case to federal court. The United States Supreme Court had resolved only a few of these important issues, leaving many differences among the United States Courts of Appeals on important questions such as the standard of proof, the relevant evidence, and whether a plaintiff may prevent a defendant from removing a case by delay tactics. This Act resolves many of these differences in favor of removal:
Timing of Removal. In a multi-defendant case, the new statute allows any defendant to file a notice of removal within 30 days of service. Earlier-served defendants still must join in the removal, but the later-served defendant's deadline to remove is not tied to service on other defendants. This rule prevents a plaintiff from serving an individual defendant that is unlikely to remove the case and then...
