Fraudulent joinder has joint-defense exception

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted May 18, 2020 11:03 AM

Denying Roy Hick’s motion to remand a state court case that Ford Motor Co. (a Delaware corporation headquartered in Michigan) removed to federal court based on diversity of citizenship after an Illinois judge granted John Crane Inc.’s motion for summary judgment, U.S. District Judge Joe Billy McDade concluded that (1) the fraudulent joinder doctrine applied to John Crane (which, like Hicks, is a citizen of Illinois) because of the “procedural posture” of the state court litigation and (2) the …

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