Federal Judge Grants Order for Plaintiff’s Motion to Remand in Lawrence Livermore Lab Case

“If at any time before judgement it appears that the district court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a case previously removed from state court, the case must be remanded.” -Title 28 U.S.C. S 1447

In an attempt to delay our case and change the Court where it would be heard, Elaine Andrews, et al., Plaintiffs v. Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC, the Lab filed a Notice of Removal on August 10, 2011. This had the immediate effect of taking our long scheduled September 2011 trial off calender. Removal jurisdiction is the right of a defendant to move a lawsuit filed in state court to a federal court in the same federal judicial district in which the state court is located. The removal was completed as soon as the Lab filed notice. Our best and only option was to file a Motion of Remand in federal court asking the judge to send the case back to state court. This was not the first time we were compelled to file a Motion of Remand.

Notice of Removal: 2009

On May 21, 2009 we filed the complaint on behalf of our plaintiffs in Alameda County Superior Court. In July, 2009 the Lab filed a Notice of Removal to have the case moved to federal court. In response, we dropped all of our federal claims and the Lab agreed not to remove the case again. Unfortunately, the Lab did not honor that agreement.

Notice of Removal: 2011

In moving forward with their Notice of Removal, the Lab may have been motivated by time factors:

The Lab removed the case one day before a hearing on their motion to continue the trial date in state court. We strongly opposed the Lab’s motion and refused their repeated requests to push back the trial
The Lab’s lawyer had other trials scheduled for this fall creating possible scheduling difficulties
The Lab wanted more time to file their motions for summary judgment

Judge Grants Order for Plaintiff’s Motion to Remand & Attorney’s Fees

Wednesday August 31, 2011 the federal judge granted our motion and remanded the case back to state court under Judge Freedman where it will most assuredly stay. Due to our time spent in preparing the motion, and the lack of legal merit in the removal, the Federal Judge also awarded us attorney’s fees for our efforts in returning the case to State Court.