Askew v. Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Co.

217 F. Supp. 3d 982, 2016 WL 6776286, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157595
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedNovember 15, 2016
DocketNo. 16-cv-12130
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 217 F. Supp. 3d 982 (Askew v. Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Askew v. Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Co., 217 F. Supp. 3d 982, 2016 WL 6776286, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157595 (E.D. Mich. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER REMANDING CASE TO WAYNE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

Honorable Gerald E. Rosen, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is presently before the Court on the Response of Defendant UniCare Life & Health Insurance Company to the Court’s Order to Show Cause which directed UniCare, the removing defendant, to show cause in writing why this case should not be remanded in its entirety to State court due to the failure of all defendants to join in removal. For the reasons stated below, the Court finds that UniCare has failed to establish that its removal was proper, and, therefore, the case will be remanded to the Wayne County Circuit Court.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On March 1, 2016, Plaintiff Pearlie Askew, through counsel, filed a one-count Complaint in Wayne County Circuit Court against Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company (“Metropolitan”) and UniCare Life & Health Insurance Company (“UniCare”). In her Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that she was injured in an automobile accident on March 4, 2011, and that “as a direct and proximate result” of this automobile accident, she “sustained serious injuries which necessitated medical treatment and resulted in [her] disabilities from normal daily routine, including work.” [Complaint 4, 7]. Plaintiff further alleges that her injuries “qualify [her] for personal injury protection benefits, disability benefits, as well as uninsured motorist benefits” pursuant to the insurance policies issued by the Defendants, id. at 7-8, but Defendants have failed to provide her with the benefits to which she is entitled, id. at 10.

Defendant UniCare, Plaintiff’s disability insurer, timely removed Plaintiff’s action to this Court, alleging federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a) (“ERISA”). Defendant Metropolitan, Plaintiff’s automobile insurer, however, did not join in and does not consent to removal of the action. See Notice of Removal, 11.

Relying on 28 U.S.C, §. 1441(c), UniCare contends that Metropolitan’s consent is not required and, therefore, Metropolitan’s non-joinder/non-consent should not be deemed an impediment to removal.

28 U.S.C. § 1441(c) provides, .in relevant part:
(1) If a civil action includes—
(A) a claim arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States (within the meaning of section 1331 of this title), and
(B) a claim not within the original or supplemental jurisdiction of the district court, ... the entire action may be removed if the action would be removable without the inclusion of the claim described in subparagraph (B).
(2) Upon removal of an action described in paragraph (1), the district court shall sever from the action all claims described in paragraph (1)(B) and shall remand the severed claims to the State court from which the action was removed. Only defendants against whom a claim described in (1)(A) has been asserted are required to join in or consent to the removal under paragraph (1).

28 U.S.C. § 1441(c) (emphasis added).

In UniCare’s view, Metropolitan’s consent was not required because a federal ERISA claim is asserted against UniCare, [984]*984and only state law claims which UniCare believe are “not within the original or supplemental jurisdiction of the district court” are asserted against Metropolitan.

Upon its review of the Notice of Removal and Plaintiffs Complaint, the Court was not convinced that it did not have supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiffs claim for benefits under the no-fault automobile insurance policy issued by Defendant Metropolitan. And, if the Court does have supplemental jurisdiction over the claims against Metropolitan, then UniCare was not entitled to remove this action from State court without Metropolitan’s consent to removal. Therefore, the Court issued an Order to Show Cause directing Defendant UniCare to show cause in writing why this case should not be remanded to Wayne County Circuit Court.

UniCare has responded to the Show Cause Order. Having reviewed UniCare’s Response the Court concludes that this case was improvidently removed from State Court without the consent of the co-defendant, Metropolitan.

III. DISCUSSION

As set forth above, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441(c)(1), if a civil action includes (A) a claim arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States, and (B) “a claim not within the original or supplemental jurisdiction of the district court,” the entire action may be removed. In such a case, only defendants against whom a federal claim has been asserted are required to join in or consent to removal. Id., § 1441(c)(2).

Section 1441(c) was revised and reworded as part of the Federal Courts’ Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011, Pub.L. No. 112-63, §§ 103(b), 104, 125 Stat. 758, 760, 762 (the “JVCA”), which took effect January 7, 2012. Under the wording of the prior statute and under long-standing case law, transactionally-un-related claims were labeled “separate and independent.”1 Though under the revised statute, the terminology was eliminated, the requirement that federal and the state claims be shown to be “separate and independent” for purposes of removal under § 1441(c) survived the JVCA amendments intact. See FDIC ex rel. Colonial Bank v. Banc of America Funding Corp, 2013 WL 3968017 at * 2 (M.D. Ala. Aug. 1, 2013) (citing H.R. Rep. 112-10 at 12 (2011), 2011 U.S.C.C.A.N. 576.

It is well-established that a federal claim is not “separate and independent” if it “arises from the same loss or actionable wrong” as the nonremovable claim. Lewis v. Louisville & Nashville R.R. Co., 758 F.2d 219, 221 (7th Cir.1985) (citing American Fire & Casualty Co. v. Finn, 341 U.S. 6, 14, 71 S.Ct. 534, 540, 95 L.Ed. 702 (1951)). That two contracts are involved does not necessarily mean that there are two separate and independent actions. Anderson County, Tennessee v. Goodstein, Hahn, Shorr & Associates, 535 F.Supp. 269, 271 (E.D. Tenn. 1982). Nor does the fact that the plaintiff pleads different theories against different defendants automatically make claims separate and independent. Union Planters Nat. Bank of Memphis v. CBS, Inc., 557 F.2d 84, 89 (6th Cir. 1977).

§ 1441(c), of course, is limited to federal question cases joining unrelated or nonre-[985]

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217 F. Supp. 3d 982, 2016 WL 6776286, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/askew-v-metropolitan-property-casualty-insurance-co-mied-2016.