Removal Jurisdiction
Removal is governed by statute, 28 U.S.C. ยง 1441 et seq. With rare exceptions, a case may be removed only if, at the time of removal, the case could be filed in federal court. Removal requires an independent ground for subject-matter jurisdiction such as diversity jurisdiction or federal question jurisdiction. A case must be removed to the federal district court that encompasses the state court where the action was initiated.
Once removed, the case can be transferred to, or consolidated in, another federal court, despite the plaintiff's original intended venue.
Ordinarily, defendants face no difficulty removing claims based on federal law if every defendant desires removal (the unanimity rule). Removal of claims under state law, even when a federal court indisputably has diversity jurisdiction, is more restricted. Except in certain class actions governed by the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), a plaintiff can successfully object to removal in diversity actions if any defendant is a citizen of the forum state where the suit is taking place.
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Famous quotes containing the words removal and/or jurisdiction:
“If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
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—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)