The English novelist George Eliot wrote that "it's but
little good you'll do watering last year's
crops." And, by reason of 28 U.S.C.
§ 1446(c)(1), which establishes a one-year outer time
limit on removal of diversity cases, it's but little good
you'll do removing last year's cases. Unless ...
.
Historically, most courts have been astonishingly single-minded in
enforcing the statutory one-year limitation. This, in turn,
has encouraged creative subterfuges by plaintiffs' counsel who
are determined to keep their cases in state courts. First and
foremost among these is to sue a non-target defendant who shares
the plaintiff's citizenship, only to nonsuit or settle cheaply
with that defendant after a year has gone by. The truck
driver, the innocent retailer, the local affiliate of a national
company or organization – all have been potential candidates
for this approach. Only where the defendant can meet the
exacting standards for showing fraudulent joinder –
