Shipleyv.Helping Hands Therapy
Betty Shipley sued a physical therapist and related defendants in Alabama state court after a therapy session allegedly injured her knee. The defendants removed the negligence action to federal court. Shipley timely moved to remand for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, but she did not identify a procedural defect in removal until a reply filed more than 30 days after removal. The district court nevertheless found removal untimely and remanded. The Eleventh Circuit held, as a matter of first impression in the circuit, that the remand order was reviewable because it was not based on a timely motion asserting a procedural removal defect. Section 1447(c) requires a motion raising such a defect within 30 days; a timely jurisdictional motion does not preserve an unraised procedural objection, and the later reply could not be treated as an amendment. Because Shipley forfeited the procedural objection, the district court exceeded its statutory authority by remanding on that ground. The court vacated the remand order.
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