Watkins v. Vita Inclinata Technologies Inc

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: November 12, 2020
• Docket: 2:20-cv-01416
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 7 JAMES WATKINS, 8 Cause No. C20-1416RSL Plaintiff, 9 v. ORDER OF REMAND 10 CALEB CARR, et al., 11 Defendants. 12 13

14 This matter comes before the Court on “Plaintiff’s Motion to Remand.” Dkt. # 8. The 15 motion is GRANTED. Under Washington law, a lawsuit commences and the Court’s jurisdiction 16 17 attaches when the complaint is filed or the summons is served, whichever occurs first. Gerean v. 18 Martin-Joven, 108 Wn. App. 963, 968 (2001); RCW 4.28.020. Defendant Derek Martin does not 19 dispute that he was served with summons on August 24, 2020, and admits that he did not 20 relocate to Colorado until the beginning of September 2020. Dkt. # 8 at 13; Dkt. # 12 at 5. 21 Because the domicile of the parties for diversity purposes is determined at the time the case 22 23 commences, diversity jurisdiction does not exist. The Court therefore lacks the power to hear 24 this case or to consider defendants’ pending “Motion to Stay Proceedings and Compel 25 Arbitration.” Dkt. # 5. 26 27 1 The Clerk of Court is directed to remand this case to the King County Superior Court. 2 Plaintiff’s request for an award of fees and costs is DENIED. 3 4 Dated this 12th day of November, 2020. 5 Robert S. Lasnik 6 United States District Judge 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27