Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Removal — Third Circuit Adopts Later-Served Defendant Rule — Circuit Split

From Delalla v. Hanover Ins., 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 20651 (3d Cir. 2011):

In order to remove a lawsuit filed in state court to a federal district court under the federal removal statute, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1441, 1446, a defendant must file a notice of removal within thirty days of the date on which the plaintiff serves "the defendant." Courts have split in interpreting this thirty day limitation: the Fourth and Fifth Circuits have held that the thirty day period ends thirty days after the first defendant is served (the "first-served" rule), and the Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits have held that each defendant has a thirty day period to file a notice of removal that ends thirty days after that defendant is served (the "later-served" rule). Nicole M. Delalla and NMD Marketing, Inc. appeal in part from the District Court's order denying a motion to remand on the basis that removal was proper under the later-served rule. ***[W]e conclude that the later-served rule represents the most faithful and equitable reading of the removal statute***.

On this subject, see our posts of January 30, 2011; July 20, 2010; February 8, 2010; August 1, 2008; and October 13, 2007.

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