A defendant may remove a state court action to the federal district embracing the state court if the case could have been filed federally, based on diversity or federal question jurisdiction. Removal requires filing a notice within thirty days of service or of learning the case became removable.
In diversity cases all properly joined and served defendants must consent, and the forum defendant rule bars removal where a defendant is a citizen of the forum state.
Alternative Names:
Removal, Case Removal
Why it Matters?
The thirty-day clock is the operative discipline, and it starts on service rather than on filing, which requires tracking each defendant's service date. Removal is worth pursuing where the state venue has an unfavorable verdict history, where federal pleading standards are stricter, or where federal procedural rules on expert admissibility differ from the state's. The one-year limit in diversity cases makes late-discovered removability a recurring problem.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
When does the removal clock start?
What is the forum defendant rule?
