If You Don’t Succeed – Try Again

In the Matter of Sunland Construction Inc., 2024 WL 1234934, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51111 * (E.D. La., Mar. 22, 2024; Guidry, J.).

            Removal from state court to federal court based on the 2011 Amendments to 28 U.S.C. § 1441 still arise from time to time and likely will pop up until a federal court of appeals finally reviews the issue. Whether a court of appeals will have the opportunity to adjudicate it is questionable as it usually arises when a defendant attempts to remove a maritime suit filed in state court and the plaintiff then seeks remand – a non-appealable order.

            Michael Bianchini filed suit in state court against defendants Sunland Construction, Inc., Sunland-Kori Services, LLC, and Venture Global Gator Express, LLC in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana to recover damages to oyster leases during dredging, pile driving, and construction of a pipeline near the leases by the defendants.[1]  Defendants sought to remove the suit to federal court alleging that the 2011 amendments to the removal statute permitted removal absent an independent basis of federal jurisdiction. The plaintiff objected, asserting that general maritime claims are not removable on the basis of admiralty jurisdiction alone.[2]

            Judge Guidry in granting the Motion to Remand acknowledged the Fifth Circuit’s own recognition of this “hotly contested” issue.[3] But, he followed the overwhelming precedent of other district courts to remand the case back to state court.[4] He based his conclusion further on the admonition of the Supreme Court in Romero v. Int'l Terminal Operating Co.[5] that federal question jurisdiction should be narrowly interpreted.[6]

[1] Sunland Construction, 2024 WL 1234934 at *1.

[2] Id.

[3] Id. (citing Riverside Const. Co. v. Entergy Mississippi, Inc., 626 F. App'x 443, 447 n.3 (5th Cir. 2015)).

[4] Id.

[5] Romero v. Int'l Terminal Operating Co., 358 U.S. 354 (1959).

[6] Sunland Construction, 2024 WL 1234934 at *2.