It's very hard to win a fraudulent joinder motion on the
merits and thus keep a case in federal court. In fact, when we
looked back at the
topic on the blog, our last post on the issue was over one year
ago. And the two posts before that were from the Third Circuit and
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. So maybe Reith v. Teva
Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., 2019 WL 1382624 (EDPA Mar. 27,
2019) shouldn't be a surprise. Instead we'll say that in a
jurisdiction with a good track record Teva managed to pull off a
decisive win – against four purported defendants.
The reason it is so difficult for defendants to substantively
prove fraudulent joinder is because "the burden on the
defendants is a heavy one." Id. at *2. A party is
fraudulently joined "where there is no reasonable basis in
fact or colorable ground supporting the claim against the joined
defendant." Id. Also, the Third Circuit has held that
that standard "is higher than the standard for dismissal under
Rule
