Smith v. Mylan Inc.

Defendants invoked diversity jurisdiction and filed a notice of removal fourteen months after the lawsuit was filed in state court. The district court sua sponte remanded, concluding that defendants removed the case too late. The court held that the district court acted in excess of its statutory authority because the one-year time limitation for removal of diversity cases under 28 U.S.C. 1446(b) is a procedural requirement rather than jurisdictional; while the district court may remand at any time prior to final judgment for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, it cannot remand sua sponte based on a non-jurisdictional defect because procedural deficiencies are waivable; and, in this instance, plaintiffs' failure to object constituted a waiver of any right to contest the removal. Accordingly, the court vacated and remanded. View "Smith v. Mylan Inc." on Justia Law