Ct. of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to consider defendant’s appeal of Dist. Ct.’s order remanding back to state court plaintiff’s breach of contract, breach of fiduciary, tortious interference and unfair competition claims arising out of contention that defendant had wrongfully transferred investment accounts of plaintiff’s customers to defendant, even though defendant had removed said claims based on contention that plaintiff’s response to previously-filed motion to dismiss raised federal questions regarding legality of plaintiff’s direct participation in security industry that was regulated by Securities Act. Under 28 USC section 1447(d) orders remanding cases back to state court from which they had been removed are generally not reviewable on appeal or otherwise. However, Dist. Ct.’s award of costs and fees to plaintiff as sanction under 28 USC section 1447(c) are reviewable, and Dist. Ct. did not abuse its discretion in awarding $9,035.61 in costs and fees to plaintiff associated with instant removal and remand, where Dist. Ct. could properly find that defendant lacked objectively reasonable basis for removing case, where: (1) plaintiff’s complaint did not raise any federal question; and (2) any potential federal defense cannot form basis for removal of essentially state law claims. Moreover, defendant’s removal was untimely, where defendant was or should have been aware of his grounds for removal more than 30 days prior to filing his notice of removal.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Removal Jurisdiction